By Paul Tenorio
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 5, 2008

Just more than 90 seconds had ticked off the clock, but that was all it took for Potomac Falls to take what had been a narrow lead over Loudoun County and turn it into a runaway.

Behind their big-play offense and an opportunistic defense, the Panthers broke the game open in the second quarter by scoring three times in a 1 minute 33 second span, sparking a 47-14 rout over Loudoun County in Leesburg on Friday night.

"We had a little chip on our shoulders since they scheduled us for homecoming," said Panthers wide receiver Tarrell Owens, who had two touchdown catches. "We wanted to go out there and bring our all."

The game had been close early on, with Potomac Falls (5-0, 2-0 Virginia AA Dulles District) leading by six at the end of the first quarter. But things broke open just 40 seconds into the second quarter.

Running back Michael Baker started the onslaught when he busted free on a 59-yard touchdown run with 11:20 left in the second to put Potomac Falls up, 13-0. Two plays later, Baker picked up a Loudoun County fumble and returned it 38 yards for a score, and just seconds after that, another Raiders fumble set up quarterback Gregory Woodlief's one-yard touchdown run. There was 9:47 remaining in the half, and the Panthers suddenly held a 27-point advantage.

"We jumped on them early," Potomac Falls Coach Scott Woodlief said. "I think if you jump on guys early, it takes them out of their game plan. Before they knew it, they were down 27-0."

Loudoun County (3-2, 1-1) tried to pull back into the game but couldn't get closer than 20.

Joe Bushrod hit tight end Jake Wasko on a 51-yard touchdown pass to put the game at 27-7 at the half. And after Woodlief broke off a 67-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw on the second play of the third quarter, Loudoun County answered back on a two-yard touchdown run by Andrew Walczak to pull within three scores.

The Raiders then had Potomac Falls facing a third-and-12 on its own 39 and looked like they had Woodlief sacked, but the senior got off a screen pass to Chad McMichael, who went 23 yards to pick up the first down, keeping the drive alive and effectively killing any comeback hopes.

"That was a big play for us," Scott Woodlief said. "They had been sending the house on us a little bit, so I went in a formation and brought Chad in and threw the screen on them, and Chad made a good play and ran to daylight."

With their second consecutive convincing win over a tough district opponent, the Panthers, whom many had overlooked in preseason district title conversations, continued to cement themselves as legitimate contenders.

For Loudoun County, which had five fumbles and turned the ball over four times, the performance was disappointing because much of the damage was self-inflicted.

"We talked all week long -- [the Panthers] were very opportunistic the entire year to this point," Loudoun County Coach Todd Hill said. "And we told the kids we couldn't give them opportunities to be successful in short yardage. . . . We did the exact opposite of what we talked about all week long."