The Meridian High School football team returned from its bye week, but couldn’t figure out how to slow down the Brentsville Tigers in a 40-21 loss to their Northwestern District rivals on Friday night.

A warm October day quickly turned into a cold, bitter evening in Nokesville, where the Meridian Mustangs would be seeing their first football action in two weeks. PJ Anderson’s squad was eager to shake off the rust, scoring the opening points on an Oumar Thompson touchdown run that capped off a methodical seven-minute drive in the first quarter. Thompson then found the end zone again early in the second quarter on a 45-yard breakway scamper after Alex Jacobson intercepted a Brentsville pass, giving the road team a 14-0 lead.

But that would be the night’s high water mark for the Mustangs. Brentsville found a rhythm offensively to tie the game at the half, and then wasted no time taking the lead early in the third quarter. A long touchdown run from Duke Dawson knotted the score at 21, but the Tigers would score the game’s final 19 points as Meridian simply could not get any stops defensively.

“We didn’t play our best game tonight,” Anderson admitted postgame, taking a share of the ownership himself. “You can’t be leading 14-0, be tied at the half, and play the second half we played.”

Next up, the Mustangs will return to Falls Church for their final home game of the season against Warren County. That will be Senior Night for Meridian, who will look to move back to .500 after dropping to 3-4 with Friday’s loss.