Fauquier rolls past Stonewall

Ryan Williams and Damien Thigpen returned to the Stonewall Jackson lineup after missing the last three games with ankle injuries.  But both players were obviously not near 100 percent healthy, and their appearance in the Raider attack made little difference against unbeaten Fauquier. 

The Falcons improved to 7-0 (4-0 in the Cedar Run District) with a resounding 54-16 victory over Stonewall Jackson, which dropped its fourth in row after a 3-0 start.

The Raider offense played without both premier runners in the first quarter and mustered just minus-one yards of offense. Fauquier had built a 14-0 second-quarter lead before Thigpen entered the game at tailback.

The junior's appearance had an immediate payoff as he rambled for 12 yards on his first carry. But Thigpen was stopped at the line of scrimmage on his second carry and limped to the sideline, having apparently re-injured his ankle. Thigpen did not play again before the half.

Thigpen was in the game for a handful of plays in the second half as a cornerback and on special teams, but his work as a running back was over.

 Williams started more slowly, losing seven yards on his first three carries as he was continually smacked by Falcon defenders behind the line of scrimmage.

 But the Raiders used Williams as a decoy to score their first touchdown. Quarterback Breon Shelton faked to Williams and then handed off first to Darryl Gaines and then to Chris Mason who each gained over 10 yards. Mason's run of 13 yards accounted for the lone Raider touchdown of the first half.
Stonewall's Nathan Stepp recovered a Falcon fumble on the Fauquier 14-yard line with two minutes remaining in the first half, but the Raiders had to settle for Patrick Diamond's 29-yard field goal as time expired.

 A lightning strike just before the start of the second half sent both teams back to their dressing rooms and cleared the bleachers. An accompanying rainstorm helped delay the start of the second half for 45 minutes before coaches and activities directors from both schools decided to resume play.

Fauquier was glad the game resumed as the Falcons scored five touchdowns in the second half to blow open the game.
A year ago, Williams rushed for 343 yards and had four scores in a 42-18 Raider win. This time, the clearly-hobbled Williams was held to 25 yards on 10 carries and also caught a pass for 23 yards.

Shelton had an off night as well, completing just 2-of-13 passes for 48 yards and an interception.

Fauquier quarterbacks Ryan Stevens and Kyle Neumann meanwhile completed a combined 14 passes for over 300 yards.
Falcon receiver David Lewis caught one scoring pass for 65 yards while Pete Kidwell hauled in another for an 82-yard touchdown. 

Lewis led all receivers with six receptions for 136 yards and also returned a first-half kickoff for an 85-yard score.

Strasburg 32, Madison 7
STRASBURG - Strasburg got a big night from Tanner Orndorff to cruise past Madison.

Orndorff finished with 135 yards on 15 carries. He scored three rushing touchdowns and caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kaleb McKelvey. 

Logan Terrell led Madison with 103 yards on 23 carries. He also connected with Dylan Shifflette for a 22-yard scoring pass.

Liberty 7, Osbourn Park 0
BEALETON - The growing pains continued Friday for Osbourn Park as the Yellow Jackets missed several chances to score as host Liberty won its Homecoming game 7-0.

The Yellow Jackets, despite another strong showing by junior running back Shawn Khanamuenwai, never got their passing game going as senior quarterback Aaron Lee completed just seven passes for 36 yards. Osbourn Park (2-5 overall, 2-2 in Cedar Run District play) just missed connecting on seven passes that were either slightly overthrown or were dropped by receivers.

A critical fumble on a bad snap late in the fourth quarter gave Liberty possession in great field position and the Eagles took advantage. Liberty scored in six plays, starting at the Osbourn Park 40 - a drive that was capped by a 6-yard run by Dustin West with 4:41 remaining. 

The Yellow Jackets had one other significant drive in the half, moving from their 1 to the Liberty 41 in 11 plays. 

Khanamuenwai, who carried 16 times for 61 yards in the half, gained most of the yards. The drive ended with two short runs by Khanamuenwai and an overthrow by Lee.

Osbourn Park missed another scoring chance on its first drive of the second half. Khanamuenwai carried on 12 of the Yellow Jackets 14 plays, gaining 41 of their 47 yards on the drive, which ended when Groundwater's 32-yard field goal attempt fell short.

Liberty (4-3 overall, 3-1 in district) sacked Lee on fourth down with just more than a minute to play to seal the victory moments after another pass was dropped in the middle of the field by a Yellow Jackets receiver.