by Michael Natelli ’14

The refs still can’t get it right, can they…?

In the early going, it seemed as though Sherwood was almost destined to lose, as calls would just not go their way. Northwestern players lined up offsides four consecutive times, leading to the Warriors missing extra points on their first three scores (luckily they got the fourth one). False starts were also often-missed, giving the Warrior offense limited time to let plays develop.

Tyler Beatty

The outcome of this game was in question before kickoff, as news had broke on Tuesday that sophomore quarterback Tyler Beatty would make his first start of the season. Beatty had taken minimal snaps on the varsity squad thus far, seeing action only in blowout and injury situations, so it was unclear how he would perform against a talented Northwest defense. However, Beatty answered any questions about his game, and played solid football.

After three drives highlighted by dropped balls and thrown-away passes to start the game, the Warrior offense took the field on their own 20, trailing by seven. Beatty and his receivers finally started to get in-sync, as they opened the drive with two passing plays combining for 23 yards. Beatty found receiver Abdoulie Jallow deep down the field for a 32-completion. Unfortunately, a missed pass interference call on the next play led to a Northwest interception, and stopped the drive. However, Beatty was not finished yet.

The next drive, the Warriors took the ball on their own 37, still down by seven. After a first-down incompletion, Beatty found Jallow deep once again, this time for a 38-yard gain. This got the Warriors down to the Northwest 25. After a 15-yard run by Fernando Smith, Beatty completed his first career red zone pass to junior receiver Malaki Roy, which set up a Fernando Smith 2-yard rushing touchdown. As mentioned earlier, a missed offsides call led to a missed Warriors PAT, so Sherwood still trailed 7-6.

“I felt very prepared because we had a great week of practice. It was pretty easy [to step in and prepare] because the first team is very talented and helped out a lot. I feel that I played well … but I need improvement. Fernando really helped me out because the defense had to honor the run, which gave me time to throw. “

“He really came through for us,” said coach Bonavia. “I was very pleased with him tonight.”

Beatty went a combined 7-19 with one interception (that shouldn’t have happened – missed pass interference), and 124 yards. A very solid night for a first-time starter.

Fernando Smith

Words can hardly describe the night that senior running back Fernando Smith had on Friday. Disregarding two or three carries, it seemed as though he was almost superhuman out on the field.

The legendary night for Smith started with Sherwood down inside the Northwest 25-yard line (set up by Beatty’s 38-yard pass to Jallow). Smith got a carry on first down, and gained 15 hard-earned yards, and, after an 8 yard pass from Beatty to Roy, Smith got the ball once again, pounding it in for a 2-yard touchdown run. There was much more to come for Smith on this night of nights.

The Warriors went into the half trailing by a single point because of a missed PAT (blown offsides call. L), but Smith was not going to accept defeat. “I had to do this for my team,” said Smith. “I had to put the team on my back doe!” He certainly did; just call him Greg Jennings Junior.

Smith started his heroics by breaking loose for a 50-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, putting the Warriors back on top 12-10 (again, offsides, and a missed PAT). One would consider two scores and almost 90 rushing yards as a successful game, but Smith was not even half way done yet.

The true magic came in the fourth quarter. After a fumble recovery for a touchdown and a two-point conversion, the Jaguars took the lead once again, 18-12. And once again, Fernando Smith said “Oh no you don’t!” He responded with another huge touchdown, this time for 55 yards! Game tied up at 18-18.

Three touchdowns? Nah, not good enough…

With 3:39 left in the final quarter, Smith decided to light up the score board once again, and ran it in for a 24-yard score, putting the Warriors up 25-18. However, they weren’t out of the woods just yet. They had to kick the ball back to Northwest.

That possession didn’t last long, as junior defensive back Richie DiPietro came up with a huge interception on the first play of the drive.

Warrior ball, Northwest 29-yard line.

After a 4-yard rush, Fernando Smith scored his fifth touchdown of the game, this time for 25 yards. This put the Warriors into position .

“I had to give it up to my O-Line. They blocked their butts off. They were great,” said Smith. “We’re one step closer to that championship.”

Smith finished the night with 283 rushing yards, only 13 yards shy of the NFL single game record set by Adrian Peterson against the San Diego Chargers on November 4^th, 2007. Nice job Fernando, you’re almost NFL-ready! J

The End of the Game

After a couple plays, Northwest managed to pull within a score, when junior quarterback  Matty Callahan found junior tight end Adrian Green open down the field for a 33-yard touchdown. However, after Fernando Smith picked up a first down on a 24-yard gain, the Warriors were able to just take a knee a few times, securing the 32-25 victory.

“That was … a humongous win for us, maybe one of the biggest wins so far. Everybody stepped up,” said coach Bonavia. “We passed the test.”

One test down, one more to go. This win kept the Warriors’ playoff aspirations alive; however, a loss by Franklin on Saturday put a large gash in the hearts of the hopeful Warriors. Now they must get a win next week at Churchill (6:30 PM, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac, Maryland), and must pray for a little bit of luck if they want to continue playing this season.