By Jeffery Gibert
West Potomac Senior/ DigitalSports Intern
** Video interviews available HERE.
The West Potomac seniors come up huge in the last game of their high school careers. They ended a four-game losing skid — after starting the season on a five-game winning streak — with a 34-22 win over visiting T.C. Williams on Senior Night on Friday.
“We had an awesome game tonight,” Wolverine senior June Johnson said. “I came out here, I did my thing, and the team did their thing.”
Added junior wide receiver Shawn Lee: “We came out with intensity today.”
The Wolverines played aggressively on both sides of the ball. They posted their third-highest point total of the season, while also forcing six turnovers. But it was West Potomac senior athlete Kristian Rodriguez who owned the night. Coach Eric Henderson started him both ways last week in a five-point loss to co-Patriot District champion Annandale, and it paid dividends.
On Friday, he hauled in five passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Rodriguez also went over a Titan defender for an apparent third touchdown catch, but it was brought back because of a penalty. Rodriguez also led the team on the defensive side of the ball with three interceptions in just his second game of playing both ways.
“I don’t really know what the change was for, but the change was good,” Rodriguez said. “We got these picks.”
Added senior linebacker Anton Hatch: “We played a good game … we executed on both sides of the ball.”
Other West Potomac seniors played well on defense, too. Defensive back Chris Montgomery and linebacker Aaron Loney, a team captain, both intercepted passes and defensive back Sammy Barrios recovered a fumble.
“[It was my] last home game as a senior,” Montgomery said. “It started four years ago. [It’s] sad to see it end.”
Loney has been plagued by injury for most of the team’s losing streak. So there was added importance for him to be out there for Senior Night and have the performance that he did.
“It’s been a rough season, you know, dealing with injuries and coming off a four-game losing streak,” Loney said. “It’s good to finish off with a win.”
Junior defensive back Cortez Taylor grabbed an interception for T.C. Williams right before the end of the first quarter and returned it for a touchdown to pull within 7-6. Minutes later, it looked as if it was all falling apart again for the Wolverines as Taylor picked off another pass, but it was called back by a penalty.
That gave the Wolverines a fresh, new breath of air and they responded with three touchdowns in a span of just 3 minutes, 51 seconds. All three scores were tosses by senior quarterback Cole Walter to Rodriguez, Lee, and junior wide receiver Will Rosenkranz.
“That was a big four-minute span for us,” Walter said. “We felt we had to blow the game open to get our swagger back.”
With a commanding 27-14 lead at the half, the Wolverines never looked back and worked on their running game. Senior tailback Daniel Baker had a breakout game with 112 all-purpose yards — 86 rushing and 26 receiving.
“We came out tough,” Baker said. “It was a rivalry game. We had to beat them.”
T.C. Williams did not just bow down, though. Senior running back Abu Karmara fought hard the whole game with 18 carries for 83 yards. The Titans outscored the Wolverines in the second half, but it was not enough.
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