CHARLES TOWN – Washington coach Terry Rea described the Patriots’ Allen Casey and Phillip Shields as “lightning and thunder.”
On Friday, the duo wreaked havoc on Hedgesville, as they combined for four touchdowns in leading Washington to its first win of the season, a 36-20 victory.
The Patriots dominated the first half, building a 21-0 lead mostly on Casey’s legs. On Washington’s first drive of the game, after it forced a three-and-out on the Eagles’ first possession, Casey ran the ball six times. He capped off the 10-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to help give the Patriots a 7-0 lead with 4:44 left in the first quarter.
Two possessions later, Casey was again the workhorse, carrying the ball four times and punching it in from 7 yards out with 10:33 remaining in the first half after breaking several tackles along the way. The successful extra point made it 14-0 in favor of Washington.
Hedgesville put together a long drive on its next possession, but two penalties and a sack doomed what was a promising drive, which ended in an incompletion on fourth down.
The Patriots (1-1) got the ball with 2:37 left in the first half and scored six plays later. A long pass from Kyle Athey to Camren Togans set them up at the 1-yard line, and Athey found the end zone on the next play to help extend Washington’s lead to 21-0 at the break.
Things flipped in the second half, as the Eagles found something offensively and began chipping away at the lead after falling behind 24-0 in the third quarter after a 32-yard field goal by the Patriots’ Emilio Perez-Diggs.
On Hedgesville’s first possession of the second half, it put together a 10-play scoring, which was capped off by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Chaz Milburn to Aubree Burrell down the middle of the field, making the score 24-7.
After Washington answered with short, three-play scoring drive in which Shields scored from a yard out after Casey’s 50-yard run, the Eagles (0-2) cut the lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdowns.
The first came after a botched punt by the Patriots. With the ball at the Washington 13-yard line, Hedgesville scored in just one play, with Milburn finding Burrell again, this time on a fade pass into the back left corner of the end zone, closing the Eagles’ deficit to 30-14.
On its next possession, Hedgesville worked down the field on another long drive, which was capped off by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Milburn to Chris Williams to make the score 30-20 with 5:45 left in the game.
An interception by Togans with 2:37 remaining set the Patriots up deep inside Eagles territory, and three plays later, Shields scored on a 59-yard touchdown down the right sideline, helping pushing the lead to 36-20.