Undefeated Briar Woods, Tuscarora meet

Game to watch: No. 9 Briar Woods (5-0) at Tuscarora (4-0), Friday, 7 p.m.

This was supposed to be Matt Rolin’s year.

(Richard A. Lipski/for The Washington Post) - Matt Rolin is back on the field for Briar Woods after missing three games with an ankle injury.

Briar Woods’ senior linebacker committed to the University of South Carolina over the summer and entered his final season with the Falcons with his sights set on a third consecutive state championship.

But a sprained ankle kept him out of three of the Falcons’ first four games, including a Week 2 win against Ashburn rivals Broad Run. Rolin returned for one half of last week’s win against Potomac Falls and declared himself back to 100 percent just in time for Friday’s clash of Virginia AA Dulles District unbeatens in Leesburg.

“It was tough to be on the sideline watching, but I just had to stay positive,” said Rolin, who had never missed a game in his high school career. “I’m really looking forward to getting back out there for the full game Friday.”

Without its top tackler, the Briar Woods defense held its own, limiting its last four opponents to 25 combined points, but Rolin’s return coincides with the Falcons’ toughest test yet.

Led by workhorse sophomore Noah Reimers and explosive senior Adrien Stinger, the Huskies are averaging 229 rushing yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry.

“We’ve got to step it up on defense. They score a lot of points, but I think we can stop them,” Reimers said after the Huskies won at Loudoun County last Friday. “And offensively, we’ve just gotta keep churning out yards.”

That was the strategy last season when the Falcons held Tuscarora’s run game to 58 yards on 25 carries in a 38-0 rout. Briar Woods is giving up only 52.6 rushing yards per game and 2.0 yards per carry through five weeks, but the Falcons know this is a bigger, stronger and more experienced Huskies team than the one they beat up last September.

If Briar Woods can limit Tuscarora’s effectiveness on the ground, the Falcons like their chances to extend their win streak to an area-best 20 games. Junior quarterback Nick Azzarita has attempted only 20 passes this season, and up until now, the Huskies have rarely been forced to throw the football, a trend Briar Woods aims to reverse.

Junior lineman Nick Merletti (6-4, 245 pounds) will try to neutralize 6-4, 275-pound right tackle Darius Anderson and while Rolin and senior linebacker Cam Serigne — a 6-foot-3, 245-pound Wake Forest tight end recruit — look to plug the running holes.

“We’re going to shut down the run game and we’re going to make them pass,” Rolin said. “We know that our defense and secondary is better than their passing game. They’ve got some big guys up front, but I think we match up size-wise pretty well, and Coach [Charlie] Pierce has a pretty good gameplan for us.”

Game to watch: Madison (3-1) at Langley (3-1), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Dan Powers knew long ago what the rest of the AAA Northern Region is starting to realize: Madison’s defense is tough to crack. Practice after practice, the Warhawks senior quarterback has seen the same swarming blitzes and stingy secondary that’s helped Madison win its last three games and in the process hold opponents to an average of 12 points per contest.

“We have a lot of returning starters on defense and our linebacker corps is extremely strong,” Powers said. “Our defense has really held us in there, and that helps us get more opportunities on offense.”