Last season, Albemarle football’s playoff run ended as quickly as it had started in a road loss to North Stafford.
A year later, the Patriots had the good fortune of hosting a postseason game and thanks to a tremendous ground attack, they will be playing at least one more week following a 31-21 win over Falls Church on Friday night, giving third-year head coach Brandon Isaiah his first playoff victory and the Patriots’ program its first postseason win since 1997.
Jamal Thompson racked up 186 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown while J’Quan Anderson added 16 carries for 82 yards and a score. Lorenz Brown recorded two scores in the victory, one on special teams and one on offense.
“Getting that first win feels great, but it’s not about me and my accomplishments–it’s about my team and theirs,” Isaiah said. “I’m so proud to be associated with this group. They continue to do great things. We keep pushing them not to be satisfied.”
Both of the first two quarters featured a punt return for a touchdown, one on either side. The Jaguars’ DeQuandre Marshall took one 60 yards midway through the first quarter to open the scoring, but that was quickly answered by a 10-play drive featuring all runs for Albemarle, with Thompson’s five-yard dive capping the march to even the score at seven with a minute-and-a-half to go in the period.
It was in the second quarter that Albemarle got its punt return touchdown, in the form of an 85-yards by Brown. Brown fielded the ball on a hop and appeared to be bottled up after gaining about 10 or 15 yards, but shifted away from would-be tacklers and went untouched the rest of the way to give the Patriots their first lead five minutes into the second quarter.
‘I didn’t really see it coming. The ball went way over my head,” Brown said. “But it took a good bounce right to me and I saw my friend Tyquan [Rose] waving for me to go. From there I just followed my blockers and hit the hole.”
Brown found the end zone again after the Jaguars got Marshall’s second touchdown of the game, hauling in a 10-yarder from J’Quan Anderson late in the second to put Albemarle back in front 21-14, a lead which they took into halftime.
“The beauty of this team is that we have several guys who can step up,” Isaiah said. “Obviously J’Quan is playing great football and Jamal is leading us, but when Lorenz does the things he’s been doing for us lately, that makes our offense really
dangerous.”
The Patriots wasted little time in extending that lead, needing just three plays before Anderson got into the scoring act with a 15-yard keeper to double AHS’ lead. That run was set up by a 49-yard scamper from Thompson to open the drive.
But the Jaguars roared back, traveling 61 yards in four minutes to cut the lead in half when Luke Saia went in on a keeper of his own from 10 yards out. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, they caught Albemarle off guard and recovered a surprise inside kick, setting up shop at the AHS 47 after a mad scramble.
The Jaguars then drove all the way to the Albemarle two-yard line and seemed poised to tie the game, but a muffed snap on third down netted a nine-yard loss and on fourth, Adrian Collins dropped a wide-open pass in the flat to give Albemarle possession back and Falls Church never threatened again.
Nick Martsolf added some insurance for the Patriots with a 22-yard field goal with six minutes to go, and Thompson sealed the game with an interception on Falls Church’s final play.
“[Playing at home] helped us a lot,” Thompson said. “I’m thankful we got to play here. It shows how far we’ve come from the past couple years.”
Marshall ran 16 times for 81 yards for the Jaguars while Collins added 54 yards on six carries. Saia had a rough night through the air, completing 12 of 21 passes for just 72 yards and a pair of interceptions.
Albemarle will hit the road for the next round, traveling north to Potomac Falls. The Panthers defeated Orange County 28-7 Friday night.
