Gaithersburg guts one out

Gaithersburg 7, Springbrook 0: Trojans edge Springbrook in football opener

He and the rest of the Trojans were more relieved than anything when Springbrook junior quarterback Phoenix Butler-Poole ran out of time after driving his offense down Springbrook’s field to the Gaithersburg 28-yard line. Only then was the Trojans’ opening-night win secure.

‘‘They don’t die,” Kephart said. ‘‘It was a slugfest, and we knew they were a tough team coming in. I told the kids, if we want to go where we want to go, we’ve got improvements to make. It takes nothing away from Springbrook, because they’re a very good football team, and I have a feeling we might have to meet them in playoffs.”

In what was an absolute defensive clinic throughout, the Trojans allowed just over 100 total yards and logged five sacks in the shutout. Junior linebacker Serge Kona logged 14 tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble to snuff out a drive with under five minutes to play. Junior defensive end Sean Stanley, who has received recruiting attention from both Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, added two sacks.

For Springbrook, no one stood out more than inside linebacker Darius Hill. He was an absolute force all night, making special teams tackles, spilling Trojan backs behind the line of scrimmage, and intercepting a pass late in the first half to keep the score at zeros apiece going into intermission.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t prevent the one play that decided everything.

The game was scoreless until the 2:03 mark of the third quarter, when Gaithersburg senior halfback Dan Atwood broke loose down the left sideline and outran two defenders for a 57-yard touchdown run.

Atwood’s game echoed Kephart’s words — He had reason to be proud, but not satisfied. On one hand, he outgained the Blue Devils by himself with his 187 rushing yards, while making several clutch tackles from his safety position. But on the other hand, he lost two fumbles, and was fortunate to see a teammate pick up another carry he lost midway through the fourth quarter.

‘‘Like coach said, a win’s a win; but we had a lot of mistakes,” Atwood said. ‘‘Myself, I put the ball on the ground three times. It should have been 14-0, or 32-0, but a game like this is definitely good for us as a team because it was too close to be comfortable. We’re going to look back on this game later on in the season.”

If the Trojans are going to earn a third-straight playoff berth, let alone accomplish the goal they’ve set for themselves, they’ll have to improve by leaps and bounds on the offensive side of the ball. Junior quarterback Dominic Toquinto showed arm strength, but looked nervous behind center most of the night. Ditto, the running game was often spectacular, but Trojan ball-carriers were stopped in the backfield nine times.

But their inconsistency on Friday night can be forgotten because of the big fat ‘‘W” that will sit by their school’s name in the box score. And as Kephart told his players as they left the field, they had reason to be happy.

‘‘Give the guys credit, they sucked it up in the end,” he said. ‘‘For the first game, I’d probably rather have a 7-0 slugfest than a blowout, as long as nobody gets hurt. It gave us a real gut check.”