Leesburg, Va. — The Tuscarora High School football team dominated on defense—allowing just 100 yards of offense—while their offense controlled the clock and racked up the yards—amassing more than 350 yards of total offense. So even trailing 14-0 in the fourth quarter of their VHSL Region 4C quarterfinal, it seemed like the Huskies were in control.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Huskies finally caught their break offensively, when senior running back RJ Evans bounced to the right side and scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to cut the Millbrook lead to 14-7.
On the ensuing Millbrook drive, the Tuscarora defense put up another stonewall effort, forcing a three-and-out and taking over at the Millbrook 38 yard line after a short punt return.
From there, Evans, senior running back Alan Gbee, and junior quarterback Tommy Peede got to work as the trio marched the Huskies downfield, setting up a 4th-and-goal from inside the one yard line with about 30 seconds to play. On just his third carry of the night, Evans carried in his second rushing touchdown of the game with 31.7 left to play, trailing 14-13.
“I told the defense, you’ve got 31 seconds to play for 48 minutes next week,” Millbrook head coach Josh Haymore said. “Our defense showed up.”
[adrotate banner=”46″]Following timeouts by both the Huskies and the Pioneers, Tuscarora elected to go for 2 but a mishandled snap marked the end of the season for the Huskies, 14-13, on November 10 in Leesburg.
“There was never any doubt about the fight to the end,” Tuscarora head coach Jared Toler said. “Throughout the year, we’ve come out on top of most of these games, but tonight just wasn’t our night. Hats off to Millbrook; they did a great job.”
It took nearly the entirety of the first three quarters for either team to find the scoreboard, but the Pioneers struck first with just five seconds left in the third quarter.
Following a red zone interception by senior defensive back Javell Holmes was returned back inside Tuscarora territory, the Pioneers capped off the ensuing 12-play, 48-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run by junior running back Tyson Mallory. A missed extra point gave Millbrook a 6-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
On the Huskies’ first drive of the fourth quarter, they once again made their way inside the Millbrook 30 yard line, but this time it was junior defensive back Ryan Hecker who jumped a route, picked off the pass, and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown to extend the Pioneers’ lead to 12-0. Millbrook found the end zone on a two-point conversion to make the score 14-0.
“Our defense in the past five weeks has shown up every single week,” Haymore said. “They’ve had fourth down stop after fourth down stop. They just dig down deep.”
From there, the Tuscarora offense got back to work as they marched down the field twice to cut the lead to 14-13 before the failed two-point conversion cut the Huskies season short.
For Tuscarora, it was a season marked by early adversity, but the Huskies didn’t miss a beat, finishing with a 9-2 record—including a 5-1 mark in the Dulles District—before their heartbreaking loss in their VHSL Region 4C quarterfinal.
“No matter what happened this year, it was going to be a successful season,” Toler said. “These guys went through a lot. They never backed down. They banded together, and that’s why we have the mantra ‘Band of Brothers’. They shouldn’t walk out of here with their heads down.”
Derrick Jerry & Kiko Dudley captured 175+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
3Q | 0:05 | Millbrook | Tyson Mallory 4-yard TD run (PAT missed) | 6-0 |
4Q | 8:55 | Millbrook | Ryan Hecker 76-yard interception return TD (2pt good) | 14-0 |
4Q | 6:33 | Tuscarora | RJ Evans 2-yard TD run (Elijah Chapple PAT) | 14-7 |
4Q | 0:31 | Tuscarora | RJ Evans 1-yard TD run (2pt failed) | 14-13 |