by James Peters
Germantown Gazette
09-27-2006

Mistakes almost cost the Screaming Eagles again

Seneca Valley football coach Fred Kim has all the ingredients, save one, to lead the Screaming Eagles back to the playoffs and perhaps challenge for regional and state titles again this fall.

Kim has speed and athleticism in Shawn Perry, Fred Branch, Charles Hobson and David Purvis, power in Jourdan Brooks, Anthony Chase and Jamaal Martin and intimidating muscle in Donald Langley, Malinda Weeramunda and Ben Luke.

The one missing component, however, could outweigh those things and ultimately be the team’s downfall.

‘‘We’re so undisciplined right now,” said Kim, following Thursday’s 26-20 overtime win against Churchill. ‘‘We work hard. We practice hard. We try to make sure the kids are doing the right thing. There are consequences but we still make a ton of mistakes.

‘‘We did it against Wheaton [14-7 win]. We did it against Northwest [21-19 loss]. We did it against Churchill again. It did bite us in the butt against Northwest because we had an opportunity to win a football game and we didn’t. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with penalties, turnovers, gaffes on special teams and fumbles.”

All those things, plus the inspired play of Churchill, nearly led to Seneca’s second straight defeat.The Screaming Eagles’ woes included a pair of missed extra points – one a wide right miss by Freddy Santos that left the score tied at 6-6 and then a failed two-point conversion that left Churchill with a 13-12 halftime lead. The two-point try came from 18-yard line instead of the 3, because of an unsportsmanlike penalty on Martin. Trailing 13-6 late in the first half, Martin raced in from 40 yards out but his post-touchdown celebration and unnecessary dive into the end zone drew the flag.

‘‘I don’t get it,” Kim said. ‘‘I’m extremely disappointed but I don’t want to take anything away from Churchill. They did a nice job. They’ve got a nice team. They’re always tough.”

Back-up tailback Delontae Watson (130 yards) scored from 12 yards out with 7 minutes, 19 seconds left in third quarter to give Seneca a 18-13 lead. A safety on Churchill’s next possession – Bulldogs punter Stephen Martin-Rolsky couldn’t corral a high snap that rolled out of the end zone – pushed that advantage to 20-13.

The Eagles were then driving for perhaps the clinching score late in the third quarter but Watson, subbing for the injured Perry, fumbled on Churchill’s 24-yard line. Bulldogs safety V.J. Evans picked up the loose ball and scampered 76 yards to tie the score with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Seneca had a chance to win in regulation but Purvis dropped a beautifully thrown ball by sophomore quarterback George Lerch with five seconds left. Purvis had gotten well beyond his defender.

Perry, who left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury, went to the hospital and then drove back to the game after re-tapping his ankle, put Seneca Valley ahead for good at 26-20 with a 2-yard touchdown run on fourth down and goal to open overtime.

‘‘I didn’t want to go but they told me I had to go,” Perry said of his trip to the hospital by ambulance. ‘‘I went to the hospital and checked it out and it’s just a sprain so I just came back and taped it up. We drove the car back. [His coaches] automatically just told me to put my stuff on. `Let’s go. Warm up and let’s play.’”

The Eagles set up to try a two-point conversion but Chase was called for a false start. Freddy Santos then missed the kick attempt to leave the door open for the Bulldogs.

Churchill got as close to the 1-yard line, but on third down, Matt Prather (2 touchdowns) was thrown for a loss and Evans was stopped at the 1 on fourth down by Branch and Dominique Chase.

Had the Bulldogs scored, Seneca was in trouble because Churchill kicker Kyle Barry is perfect on extra-point tries this season.