Colts Cruise Past Rough Riders

Coolidge Claims Early Advantage in League by Winning Penalty-Filled Game

Coolidge might be the team to beat in the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association this season, especially after the Colts went to Theodore Roosevelt and dominated the Rough Riders, 50-15.

But if the game matched two of the best teams in a wide-open DCIAA, it also exposed some of the league's shortcomings.

The game lasted more than three hours (including a normal 12-minute halftime), thanks, in part, to the teams combining for 26 penalties. Coolidge was assessed 145 yards in penalties, while Roosevelt drew five 15-yard personal foul flags.

"It was just bad both ways," Roosevelt Coach Daryl Tilghman said. "As coaches, we need to show class."

Coolidge (5-1, 1-0 DCIAA West) did not lift its starting offense, nor did it abandon downfield passes even when the Colts had insurmountable leads throughout much of the second half. Roosevelt is not without blame, either.

The Rough Riders fell to 3-4, 0-1.

"The score is what it is," Coolidge Coach Jason Lane said. "We're not going to take our second team in there against a good team like Roosevelt. They have a lot of good athletes. There are a lot of teams that run up a lot of points on people. Why is it that people get upset when Coolidge does it?"

Coolidge wasted little time showing it was the better team, scoring on its first two possessions, a five-yard touchdown run by Derrell Person (who left the game in the second quarter with a right ankle injury and didn't return) and a 42-yard pass from Emmanuel Yeager to Avery Williams.

In between, Roosevelt got on the board on a 95-yard kickoff return by Marcus Matthews, but it had trouble gaining any substantial yardage with its offense until late.

"We really got a lot of confidence from this one," Yeager said. "We needed to come out early in league play and set things up for us."

Coolidge took a 22-9 halftime lead on a 14-yard scoring pass from Yeager to Martize Barr on the last play of the half. The Colts poured it on, scoring 22 straight points in an eight-minute span capped by the first play of the fourth quarter to take a 44-9 lead.

Coolidge recovered a Roosevelt fumble at the Rough Riders' 1 with 26 seconds left and a 44-15 lead, On the next play, Coolidge ran it in for the final points.

Coolidge 50, Theodore Roosevelt 15 Remember When: In a pregame ceremony, Roosevelt dedicated its field to James Tillerson, who coached the Rough Riders from 1969 to '93. See You later? Maryland assistant James Franklin was on the Roosevelt sideline along with two Duke coaches watching Rough Riders senior Darin Drakeford.