Following an exciting home win versus Gaithersburg in their first game of the season, the varsity football team suffered a crushing 19-7 loss at Poolesville on Sept. 10, their only score being on a five-yard slant pass to senior Jake Lotenberg. This loss moves the Patriots to 1-1 on the season, and they look for a bounce back win, this Friday, Sept. 17, at Clarksburg. 

To start the game, senior quarterback Aditya Khanna came out firing, driving down the field to open up the first quarter with ease. Then, after an unsuccessful rush attempt on the goal line, Khanna threw a bullet pass to Lotenberg in the back of the endzone to put the Patriots out in front 7-0. “We had a great first drive to start off the game, and we looked very comfortable,” Khanna said.

Following a successful opening drive, neither team could make progress, as the Patriots led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. Then early in the second quarter, Poolesville came back and drove down the field, resulting in a touchdown and evening the score to 7-7. “Our defensive line couldn’t hold up against their run game and they came all the way down the field and ran it in,” junior defensive lineman Miles Reyes said.

The strong defense on either side continued as neither team scored for the rest of the half, leaving the two teams tied 7-7 going into the locker room. To open the second half, the strong defense from both teams continued, however Poolesville was able to capitalize off of a turnover. This left them with a 13-7 lead going into the fourth quarter. “We were down six going into the fourth after we blocked an extra point, so we were feeling good only down six with the ball,” sophomore cornerback Holden O’Brien said. 

The confidence was not enough for the Patriots in the fourth quarter as they could not get their offense going. Late in the fourth Poolesville intercepted Khanna’s pass and returned it for a touchdown, leaving the Patriots in a 19-7 hole with just under two minutes left in the ball game. “We fought hard and everyone left their all out there on the field, but we could not execute on offense and our defensive line could not stop Poolesville’s strong run game,” Reyes said.

Looking ahead, the varsity football squad travels to Clarksburg on Friday, Sept. 17, looking to get back in the win column and have positive momentum going into the biggest game of the year versus rival Churchill. The Patriots are confident they can recover and come back even better from the loss versus Poolesville. “We won’t let one loss define us and we will practice hard this week to be ready for the game Friday. We know what we need to improve on and will watch film to correct it,” head coach Ivan Hicks said.