West Potomac's Walter Responds to Pressure

West Potomac junior quarterback Cole Walter stepped into a starting job on a team with a Division I prospect on the line, in the backfield and at wideout. While it's comforting in a way to be surrounded by such talent, with it comes pressure for the new guy to play to that level.

Walter was able to do that both early and late last night in his team's 14-9 home win over Centreville, throwing for touchdowns on two of his team's first three snaps and making some key completions late to help retain possession and drain the clock.

"Beginner's luck maybe, I don't know," a shrugging yet smiling Walter said of his productive debut. "I felt a lot of pressure. I almost threw up before the game. After the first snap, the pressure was off."

The victory not only avenged two lopsided defeats to Centreville from the past two seasons (by a combined 107-44 score), it validated the Wolverines as a legitimate threat in Division 6 of the Northern Region and let the region know that closing the 2006 season with six wins in their last seven games was no fluke.

Walter made some mistakes, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble, but the early 71-yard catch-and-run by senior Andrew Swinson and a 33-yard pass to senior Robert Byrd stood up, thanks to a West Potomac defense that bent and bent but never quite relented.

Centreville, playing its first game under new coach Gerry Pannoni, an assistant in the program last year, scored its lone touchdown on an 89-yard interception return by senior Darryl Hamilton early in the fourth quarter. A long touchdown run on the Wildcats' first possession was negated by a penalty, and they were stopped a yard short of the goal line on fourth down in the third quarter.

Centreville also lost two fumbles. Andrew Morgan carried 24 times for 115 yards, but the Wildcats gained only 18 yards through the air.

"If we can beat a Centreville team, then I think maybe that's an indicator of what we might become," said West Potomac Coach Eric Henderson, whose team gave up 34.7 points per game last year. "We've got a defense maybe, so that's nice."

"We don't think this was an upset," senior lineman Jimmy Bennett said. "This is what was supposed to happen. This is what we're going to do, come out and beat teams. We didn't have to prove it to ourselves, we had to prove it to everyone else."

West Potomac 14 Centreville 9 All's Wells: West Potomac senior Josh Wells carried 26 times for 107 yards. He was the only Wolverine other than quarterback Cole Walter to carry the ball. Foot, Ball: West Potomac senior punter Matt Husband boomed punts of 62 and 57 yards, but a two-yarder in between wrecked his average.