Following an exciting win last week for the Highlanders over the Marshall Statesmen, McLean was looking to continue their momentum into a heated rivalry game on Oct. 24. However, this game was going to be a true test, as the Saxons had been one of the top teams of the Liberty District.
“This game is going to be tough,” senior kicker Arsen Hakobyan said, “but we saw what the team can do under pressure last week and we’re bringing all of that energy right into Langley.”
After Langley’s senior night festivities, the captains walked out, shook hands and the game was underway. The Saxons won the coin toss, deferring the ball to the Highlanders.
McLean’s offense trotted onto the field, ready to bring back the hotness from the previous week. However, the offense stalled out, punting the ball on the first fourth down of the series. The dominant defense for the Highlanders stepped up on their first series, and held the Saxons to punt after stopping the run four times in a row.
The offense came back out for the Highlanders on the backs of strong defense, but was unable to produce anything and went three and out again. Langley took advantage of the field position on a lackluster punt, taking a slow and methodical drive to chew the clock and punch in a touchdown on a fourth down pass.
McLean had to do something on offense if they wanted to stay in the game on this possession, but were stopped on yet another three and out and punted right back to the hot Saxons offense. Chants started echoing in the student section, begging head coach Joe Cockerham to utilize Aidan Reid, the teams’ tight end commit to William & Mary, or the passing game in general after running the ball on nearly every play thus far.
Langley came back onto the field and took advantage of a tired McLean defense, driving down the field in little time and effort to punch in a second touchdown on a sideline catch that had everyone’s hands on their head, notching the score to 14-0. McLean was put into a rough spot early, and needed to figure something out before getting to the point of no return.
The offense came out firing, and thoughts started filling the students in the student sections’ minds as the first two plays were long passes to Reid and senior wide receiver Steven Conroy. However, the Saxons’ defensive line was too powerful, getting pressure on almost every drive and notching two straight sacks on third and fourth down to keep the Highlanders scoreless.
Langley secured the ball with under two minutes left inside of their own territory. Their offense left nothing to be imagined, driving down the field with quick passes and long quarterback runs. But, penalties by the offense gave McLean a shimmer of hope, and as the clock ran down the Saxons kicked a field goal to end the half 17-0 for Langley.
“Obviously we haven’t been able to get moving on offense but we’re still not out of it,” Hakobyan said. “The defense is capable of making the stops, we just need a couple and some points on the board and this is a game.”
The second half started with the ball in the Saxons’ hands, and they were hungry for points. After a few short gains, a deep ball put this into the red zone and a rushing touchdown notched them to a 24-0 lead.
A quick safety for the Saxons put them up 26-0, and McLean was looking defeated on all ends of the spectrum. After multiple yard-gaining plays for Langley, they once again trotted into the endzone for a 33-0 lead.
McLean’s offense came back out, but stalled once again, a common theme throughout the night. At this point, most of the student section was empty with fans frustrated with the performance of the offense.
Langley had backup players in at this point, and once again were able to drive down on a beaten McLean defense, punching in another touchdown to make it a 40-0 fest.
Both offenses had backups in for the majority of the back of the fourth quarter, as Langley chewed the clock down minute by minute. After the clock hit triple zeroes, both teams shook hands and the game ended with Langley dominating the game 40-0.
McLean has a bye week next week, and all eyes are on the coaching and the offensive decision-making that fans were unhappy with all game. With zero points scored in this outing, the offense must figure out a way to close out the season in positive form.
“We’re going to utilize this bye to get our injured players back and healthy again,” head coach Joe Cockerham said. “We’re also going to need to focus on preparing for the outing against Wakefield.”
The team faces off against Wakefield on Nov 7 at Wakefield for the final game of the season. For all of the seniors, this will be their opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the Highlander legacy.
“Wakefield is a good team; their air attack has been very successful for them so far so we have been prepping the secondary for this,” offensive coordinator Joe Lokke said. “We have a lot of hungry seniors that want to score a lot for their last game of the season. This is a must win game for us, so we are all hungry and ready to grind and win.”
