Leesburg, Va. — Coming off a heartbreaking Week 1 loss to John Champe, the Briar Woods High School football team knew they needed to regroup before traveling to Loudoun County High School for a Week 2 matchup. Backed by a 300-yard offensive performance by senior quarterback Brady Carmical, the Falcons responded in a big way, cruising past the Captains, 20-7, on September 6 in Leesburg.
“We have to work hard every single day,” Carmical said. “Our offensive line worked hard this week at practice and showed out tonight against County’s great defense.”
While the Briar Woods offense certainly gelled better in Week 2, its defense proved stout for the second straight week. Led by a strong linebacking core and an athletic secondary, the Falcons defense showed up early and often in their win over the Captains.
After Loudoun County junior running back Montez Dyson helped march his team down to the Briar Woods 25 on the opening drive of the game, the Captains eventually faced a 4th-and-9 from the Briar Woods 27. Loudoun County junior quarterback Jake Miller tossed a pass towards the endzone, but Briar Woods senior defensive back Anthony Joyce was there to bat it down, forcing the first turnover-on-downs of the night.
“They moved the ball all night on us, and we expected that with their offensive line and a running back like that,” Briar Woods head coach Mike Burnett said. “But we contained them and made the big plays when we needed to.”
That pass break up by Joyce was the first of four big plays by the Falcons secondary, which included two interceptions by sophomore defensive back Jax McIntosh and a third interception by Joyce on the Captains’ final drive of the game.
“We wanted to put a bunch in the box to stop the run,” McIntosh said. “Then, we just relied on our defensive backs to lock the receivers up.”
With the Briar Woods defense working, the Falcons turned to the senior leadership of Carmical, receiver Colin Capistrant, and running back Trey Dudley to get their offense going.
On their first offensive series of the game, Carmical and Capistrant connected on three passes for 19 yards while Dudley carried the ball four times for 28 yards, driving the Falcons into the red zone.
“I’ve been throwing with guys like Colin and Joyce since like sixth or seventh grade,” Carmical said. “We would just go up to the middle school almost every other day, building that chemistry, building that connection, and we saw all that click tonight.”
Facing a 4th-and-19 from the 20, the Falcons drew a defensive holding flag, before Dudley picked up a big first down on a 9-yard carry. Then, on 1st-and-goal from the 1, Carmical kept it himself, giving the Falcons the early lead.
“We know we have talented kids, but we know we’re undersized up front,” Burnett said. “I was really proud of our guys that when we needed to get tough and physical, we could.”
That toughness continued into the second quarter as Carmical, Capistrant, and Dudley continued to move the Briar Woods offense forward, before Carmical evaded a sack and connected with Dudley on a 20-yard touchdown pass as the Falcons extended their lead to 14-0.
Interceptions by McIntosh on two of the next three Loudoun County possessions, gave Carmical and co. an opportunity to further extend their lead early in the third quarter.
On a drive highlighted by a 51-yard Carmical-to-Capistrant connection, Carmical took care of the last 25 yards himself, going for a 24-yard run, before once again scoring on a 1-yard quarterback keeper with just 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
With any glimpse of a comeback fading, the Captains had a near immediate response as a 33-yard kickoff return by senior Will Hancock gave Loudoun County great field position late in the third quarter.
Then, on the first play of the ensuing drive, Dyson weaved his way through the Briar Woods defense and broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run to steal some momentum and cut the deficit to 20-7.
The Captains forced a punt on the next Falcons’ possession but couldn’t get anything going offensively after that as the Briar Woods defense shut the door on their 20-7 win.
“We don’t have any big guys on defense, but we surprise a lot of teams because we swarm to the point of attack and tackle pretty well,” Burnett said. “Hopefully, we can keep doing that.”
Briar Woods (0-0, 1-1) will look to add to its win column when the Falcons travel to Broad Run on September 13. Loudoun County (1-0, 1-1) will look to get back into the win column when they travel to Leesburg-rival Tuscarora on the same night.
Jackson Reid captured 250+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
| Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 1Q | 1:28 | Briar Woods | Brady Carmical 1-yard TD run (Matthew Kordes PAT) | 7-0 |
| 2Q | 7:04 | Briar Woods | Brady Carmical to Trey Dudley 20-yard TD pass (Matthew Kordes PAT) | 14-0 |
| 3Q | 0:30 | Briar Woods | Brady Carmical 1-yard TD run (PAT blocked) | 20-0 |
| 3Q | 0:15 | Loudoun County | Montez Dyson 40-yard TD run (Luke Morrison PAT) | 20-7 |