Undefeated Patriots Make a Statement

Wootton Advances to Tough Semifinal

Jonathan Keslow, rear, knocks the stick free from Springbrook's Tim Roe in Wootton's 4A/3A region title victory. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)

After the game yesterday, Wootton senior goalie Steven Silverberg looked at the scoreboard and assessed the final damage. The Patriots won the 4A/3A West Region title, 15-8, against Springbrook, which entered with just one loss.

"Yeah, I think we made a statement," Silverberg said.

Last year, Silverberg noted, Wootton edged Churchill for the region title. And the Patriots beat Walter Johnson by just one goal in Monday's region semifinal.

So Wootton came out yesterday focused on hammering Springbrook to prove a point it has been trying to drive home all season -- that its 17-0 record is legitimate.

"When they are focused on something, they get it done," Wootton Coach Colin Thomson said. "That's something different with this team than last year's."

The Patriots are also trying to become the first Montgomery County team to win a 4A/3A Maryland state semifinal game.

Last season's team also won the region but was knocked out in the state semifinals by Severna Park. This year's Patriots will face the winner of the Dulaney-North County game, which was rained out yesterday but is expected to be played today. The state semifinals likely will be either tomorrow or Saturday.

As senior midfielder Ben Engleman said, Wootton isn't out to just conquer that feat for themselves, but for all of Montgomery County.

"We want to prove our county is just as good as Baltimore or Anne Arundel County," Engleman said. "We definitely wanted to show tonight what happens when we come to play."

Wootton went up 10-2 in the first half on three goals by Engleman and two by senior attackmen Richard Kent and Sam Burns. The Patriots were dominating every facet of the game. But Springbrook, which rallied to beat Whitman and Churchill to reach the region final, netted five straight goals to cut the margin to 12-8 with 7 minutes 30 seconds remaining.

Burns started a streak of three straight Wootton goals to end the game, but as Thomson said afterward, there is still work to be done to beat a team such as Dulaney, and the Patriots know it.

Dulaney "is far superior to anybody we play in the county," Silverberg said. "There's no more 17-3 games. We have to put the pedal to the metal like we did tonight."

Wootton 15, Springbrook 8 Undefeated: Even with their main goal ahead of them, the Patriots still raucously celebrated going undefeated through regionals, a feat Coach Colin Thomson said he can't remember happening before in Montgomery County history. Rally Time: Senior midfielder Ben Simmons was responsible for Springbrook's two comebacks earlier in the tournament and scored three goals yesterday