Late Field Goal Gives Herndon 23-20 Victory Over South Lakes

By BRIAN McNICOLL

There’s a difference between “having a game won” and actually winning the game, and the South Lakes High Seahawks learned all about that Saturday afternoon at Herndon.

The Seahawks seemed to have a handle on the game if not the scoreboard in the first half when they limited Herndon to one missed field goal try, three punts and an interception to end the half and kicked two field goals for an early lead.

They thought they were in good shape again when Nick Picarelli scored on a 73-yard pass play from Christan Wyatt to tie the game with 1:58 left.

But the final two minutes of the game would include two interceptions – one by each team – and conclude with a 49-yard field goal by Herndon’s Ryan Quick with 6 seconds left to give the Hornets a crazy 23-20 victory.

The Seahawks fell to 3-2 despite a career-best 322-yard passing performance from Wyatt and a 218-yard receiving game from Picarelli – the team leader with 28 catches for 441 yards. His touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter was his first score of the year, but he had receptions against Herndon for 23, 51 and 25 yards in addition to his long touchdown catch.. It was the most passing yards in a game in at least two seasons for South Lakes.

“It should have been 28-0 in the first half,” said South Lakes Coach Jason Hescock. We didn’t execute. This was self-imposed. Penalties. Missed assignments. We gave them hope when they shouldn’t have had it.”

Senior running back Dalton Blakeney did end up with 74 yards on 16 carries, both season lows, and he did power in a 5-yard touchdown run earlier in the fourth quarter for his sixth touchdown of the season.

But for the most part, the reason the Seahawks were not ahead 28-0 is that they struggled to run the ball. In the first half alone, nine of South Lakes’ 13 running plays went for less than two yards.

On South Lakes’ first field goal drive, the Seahawks basically squandered a chance at a touchdown it with a 4-yard loss on a run, after which Nick Bertoni kicked the first of his two field goals on the day, a 32-yarder with 1:46 left in the first quarter that put South Lakes up 3-0.

After Picarelli receptions of 23 and 51 yards moved South Lakes from its 20 to the Herndon six in the second quarter, the Seahawks gained just one more yard before Bertoni kicked a 23-yarder to make it 6-0.

After halftime, the Hornets made them pay. They gained 50 yards on their first two runs after the break to reach the South Lakes 18. But a tackle for a loss and two plays that gained two yards each led to Quick’s first field goal, a 32-yarder that made it 6-3 with 9:13 left in the first quarter.

Then, after a series in which South Lakes gained one yard on three rushes, the Hornets were in business again at the Seahawk 48. Two plays into the drive, quarterback Rita Hayden hit all-purpose back Ethan Braxton over the middle for a 48-yard touchdown pass, and suddenly it was the Hornets on top, 9-6.

South Lakes overcame a penalty in the next drive with a double-reverse that netted 10 yard and a key first down on the next possession. But that drive ended when the Seahawks lost their second fumble of the game with 4:05 left in the third quarter.

“Ball security isn’t the only thing that beat us, but it did really hurt,” said Hescock. “We have to be absolutely lights out with that, and we weren’t.”

Herndon turned that mistake into a 9-minute drive that ended with a 37-yard field goal by Quick that made it 12-6 Herndon.

Herndon’s best offensive drive of the game was followed by South Lakes’ best drive of the game, a 75-yard march that featured a 25-yard catch by Picarelli and runs of 11, 8, 6, 14 and 5 for the touchdown by Blakeney. The Seahawks made the extra point and go back up 14-13 with 4;10 to go in the game.

But at that point, the defensive struggle of the first half had turned into a wide-open shootout. South Lakes held Herndon for three plays, setting up a 4th-and-2 at the Hornets 39 with less than three minutes to play. Down a point, the Hornets went for it. Braxton pushed into the line, appeared to be stopped, then slipped away and dashed untouched 61 yards to make it 20-13 Herndon with 2:32 left.

And South Lakes found its footing as well – a 17-yard pass to Nate Zschunke, followed by the 73-yard pass to Picarelli, who worked his way up the right sideline for the score. Bertoni, who had his best day of the season – perfect on two extra points and two field goals – booted it through to make it 20-20 with 1:58 left.

South Lakes’ Labeed Zaib made what looked like the biggest play of the game at the time, intercepting a Rita pass down the sideline with 1:09 left. “It was an out-and-up, and he broke free, and I saw the ball was up in the air and went for it,” Zaib said.

But two plays later, Herndon made an interception of its own, when linebacker Xavier Carter slipped inside a screen for South Lakes and picked off a short pass that Walker tried to toss just over the head of the defender.

“Christian was trying to lob it over him into the middle, and he just didn’t get it far enough over him,” Hescock said. “Not our best decision on the day.”

One running play later, and it was Quick’s turn to be the hero. Herndon let the clock click down to nine seconds and called timeout. Quick’s kick then boomed through with plenty to spare.

It was the third field goal of the day by Quick, a senior who became the starter only this year after his predecessor, Logan Lopez, went to Hampton University to kick. “I always have a little anxiety before a big kick,” said Quick, who has made a 60-yarder in practice. “But I knew I hit it perfectly, and I know this kick means more to our community.”

The Seahawks gave Herndon hope for more than one game. A young Hornets team had started out 0-4 with some lopsided losses. But on this day, they made just enough plays to come out on top and take a 15-13 lead in the Baron Cameron Cup series and retain the cup for a second straight year after nine years of Seahawk domination.

“Our coaches set us up nicely. We hit their moves, and we didn’t let them around us,” said Herndon sophomore Daniel McCollum, whom Hescock said “was in our backfield the whole game.”

“Everyone did their assignments today. We made some mistakes, but we did enough to win.”

South Lakes 3 3 0 14 – 20
Herndon 0 0 9 14 – 23
SL-Nicholas Bertoni, FG 32
SL-Bertoni, FG 23
H-Ryan Quick, FG 32
H-Ethan Braxton, 48 pass from Hayden Rita (pass failed)
H-Quick, FG 37
SL-Dalton Blakeney, 5 run (Bertoni kick)
H-Braxton, 61 run (David Castillo run)
SL-Nick Picarelli, 73 pass from Christian Wyatt (Bertoni kick)
H-Quick, FG 49

SL H
First Downs 13 11
Rushes-Yards 25-113 40-191
Passing Yards 322 134
Passes (A-C-I) 24-15-1 15-5-2
Punts-Avg. 3-29 3-37
Fumbles-Loss 2-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 8-78 11-100

RUSHING – SL: Blakeney16-74, Wyatt 8-29, Labeed Zaib 1-10. Herndon: Max Fox 2-minus 1, Braxton 11-136, Castillo 7-27, Timothy Fouche 10-21, Rita 8-8, Carlzay Bradley 1-minus 2.
PASSING – SL: Wyatt 23-15-1, 322 yards; Blakeney 1-0-0. H: Rita 15-5-2, 134 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING – SL: Picarelli 7-218, TD; Blakeney 7-47, George Zarechnak 1-25, Cameron Soto 1-9, Josh Dagbie 1-14, Joe Kister 1-0, Nate Zschunke 1-17. H: Castillo 2-26, Braxton 2-93, TD; Luke Sangine 1-15.