Foxes survive Cyclones, move another step closer to fifth straight district title

Charles Johnson’s heart sank into his cleats.

Late in the third quarter of Friday night’s crucial Battlefield District clash between visiting Eastern View and King George, Johnson found himself wide open on a fourth-and-15 play from the Cyclones’ 19-yard line.

Foxes quarterback Dylan Koch wasted little time floating a soft touch pass in the direction of Johnson, who was running free inside the 10 and didn’t have an Eastern View defender in the same zip code.  It looked for all the world as if it was an easy touchdown for King George, which held a slim one-point advantage at the time.

But Johnson dropped the ball.

The Foxes’ do-it-all senior could have wallowed in self-pity after his gaffe.  Instead, he shrugged it off, scoring a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to help King George secure a 42-40 victory and move another step closer to a fifth consecutive district title.

“Fourth down in the red zone, nobody around me, I’ve gotta make that play,” Johnson said.  “I was very frustrated with myself.  But I knew I had to keep my head high, because the team feeds off my energy.”

Johnson gave the Foxes (6-2 overall, 5-0 district) a consistent shot in the arm throughout the contest.  He hauled in eight receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns and added a late score on the ground that proved to be the game-winner.

King George’s defense put Johnson in position to redeem himself almost immediately after his drop, recording a strip-sack of Cyclones quarterback AP Hull just three plays later that gave the Foxes a first-and-goal at the 10.

Johnson snagged a 10-yard TD pass over the middle from Koch on the very next play, extending King George’s lead to 35-27 with 11:44 remaining.

“I want to thank my coach and my quarterback for keeping their faith in me and coming back to me on the next series after the [drop],” Johnson said.  “In games like this, you know when you’ve gotta step up, and that’s what I tried to do.”

After Eastern View (5-3, 4-1) pulled within 35-33 on Brett Clatterbaugh’s 1-yard scoring scamper with 7:09 to go, the Foxes answered with a nine-play, 57-yard drive that took five minutes off the clock.  Johnson ripped off a 21-yard run on the fourth play of the march, then capped it with a 1-yard TD run that made it 42-33 with 2:02 remaining.

King George head coach Vern Lunsford didn’t think twice about putting the ball in Johnson’s hands down the stretch.

“He’s too valuable to the team to not be in the middle of what we’re doing,” Lunsford said.  “He can line up all over the field, and he’s a leader for us.”

The Cyclones refused to go away quietly, driving 70 yards in seven plays to trim the Foxes’ lead to 42-40 on Hull’s 6-yard pass to Jahiem Frye with a minute to go.  But their ensuing onside kick attempt was recovered by King George’s Gunnar Reger, allowing the hosts to run out the clock.

Reger was an all-around standout for the Foxes, catching five passes for a game-high 142 yards and a score and adding an interception from his defensive back spot.

Meanwhile, Koch went 17 of 36 for 369 yards with four touchdowns.  He overcame three early interceptions to throw for 306 yards and three scores before halftime, buoying King George to a 28-27 advantage.

“I try to stay level-headed and not take anything personal,” said Koch, whose first-half touchdown connections to Ky’Mani Carpenter, Reger and Johnson covered 69, 65 and 10 yards, respectively.  “I try and learn from my mistakes, leave them in the past, and just keep going.”

Hull was instrumental in keeping Eastern View in the contest throughout the night, completing 14 of 31 passes for 299 yards and four scores.  He hooked up with Frye for a 67-yard touchdown on the Cyclones’ first play from scrimmage, then found Cam Roy on a slant pattern for a 71-yard score that pulled them even with the Foxes at 14 apiece with 1:14 left in the first period.

Hull’s third touchdown pass of the first half, which went for 42 yards to Clatterbaugh and saw the latter power through a pair of King George defenders on his way to the end zone, gave Eastern View its first lead of the game, 21-14, with 9:55 remaining before intermission.

“He’s a heady player and a very tough player,” Cyclones head coach Brian Lowery said of Hull, who remained in contest despite pulling his left hamstring just one play before his fourth-quarter scoring strike to Frye.  “He’s good at pre-snap reads to find the hole in coverage and get the ball to the right guy, which he showed tonight.”

Eastern View’s edge was short-lived, as the Foxes’ Simeon Battle raced 68 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the ensuing possession to tie the score.

The Cyclones’ Jordan Hopkins matched Battle’s scoring sprint with one of his own, covering 61 yards and putting Eastern View back on top 27-21 with 4:32 left in the half.  But King George blocked Beckett Capellini’s extra-point attempt, and Johnson’s first TD catch of the game gave the Foxes a 28-27 edge at the break.

While he was clearly happy that his squad remained on track to win the district and earn a top seed in next month’s Region 4B playoffs, Johnson tempered his excitement.

“This [win] was big for the district title and for playoff placement,” he said.  “But we’ve still got a lot to work on as a team if we’re going to make a playoff run, and that includes cutting out the penalties, turnovers and dropped balls.”

King George will travel to Spotsylvania next Friday, where a win will give the Foxes at least a share of the district title.

Meanwhile, Eastern View will host Chancellor.

Score by quarters