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Before there was a fight in Saturday's Potomac-Crossland high school football matchup, there was a game that had a couple of interesting wrinkles.

Potomac won 53-0 in a game called with 8 minutes, 4 seconds to play in the fourth quarter because of the fight.

For the first time this year, Potomac came out in its version of the "Wildcat" offense, which has a running back take the snap from center. The running back to open this game was sophomore Ronald Darby.

Darby said he learned early last week that the Wolverines were installing the new offense for the Crossland game.

"It didn't work out that well with me, but if we keep practicing it we'll get better," Darby said.

Darby didn't have much of a chance to show off his Wildcat skills. The Wolverines (5-3 overall, 4-2 in the County 3A/2A/1A League) started their first seven possessions on Crossland's side of the field. They opened the game in the Wildcat, and Darby ran for 3, 1 and 5 yards on the opening series, scoring on the last run.

They remained in the Wildcat for the next two plays before quarterback Sharmarte Banks took control of the offense, throwing a 21-yard touchdown on his first play under center.

Darby did not attempt to throw a pass in the game, but said he has been working on that and is eager to try. He did rush for three touchdowns and 113 yards against the Cavaliers.

One of the reasons the Wolverines started so often on Crossland's side of the 50-yard line, was linebacker Terrell McGowan. Twice he timed his rush to jump across the line of scrimmage at the snap of the football and knocked it out of the quarterback's hands. Both times he recovered the fumble he caused.

The first time he did it came on Crossland's first play of its second drive. Crossland sophomore Cornell Duncan did not return as quarterback after that and instead played as a receiver. Potomac took over at the Crossland 23. McGowan did it again in the second quarter to Duncan's replacement, senior Julius Bradley, setting up the Potomac offense at the Crossland 24.

"In practice we've been working on stripping the football, trying to get the offense going so they can score," McGowan said.

Potomac coach Chris Davidson said McGowan has been doing that all year.

The game itself, however, will most be remembered because for the second year in a row, the teams were unable to complete their game because of fighting between players. Last year's Potomac-Crossland game was stopped in the third quarter of a 42-0 Potomac win.

Potomac dominated Saturday's game and led 40-0 at halftime. Davidson benched many of his starters for the second half, but still Crossland could get nothing going offensively. The Wolverines scored two more touchdowns, one on an 11-yard run by linebacker Joshua Thorne. Lineman Deonte Caldwell also carried the ball as a running back during the third quarter.

On the second play of the fourth quarter, Marcus Hagens ran 71 yards for a touchdown and the 53-0 lead in a drenching rain. On the extra point try, the snap went over kicker Eric Edwards' head. When he raced back to get it, a struggle for the ball ensued. It quickly became a fight that had both coaches leave the sidelines to try and restrain their players. The referees called the game immediately.

Potomac's coaching staff urged the players to get on their team buses and the Crossland coaches moved their team to the opposite side of the field to allow them to leave.

"It was exactly the right call," Davidson said of the decision to end the game. "[Crossland] came out with the intent of being chippy. They came out and hit one of our kids in the mouth and he's bleeding. When they continually exhibit bad behavior, well, who's responsible for that?

"We're robbing the kids that work hard all week looking for the opportunity to get into the game. It's a travesty."

Crossland coach Eric Knight blamed the game ending early on the officials.

"The officials let this game get out of control," Knight said. "They didn't do anything to stop it until the final end. They were letting stuff go on all day long."