After struggling defensively in two scrimmages, Annandale finally came up with some big plays in the season opener against Fairfax. Unfortunately for the Atoms, the offense hasn’t quite caught up.
Marcus Walton and Ahmad Haj-Assaad failed to move the ball on the ground, and by the time backup quarterback Adam Wattenbarger
found his rhythm, it was too late for Annandale to avoid a 21-9 loss. The Rebels managed just two offensive touchdowns though, an early 3-yard run by Lorenzo Harris and 49-yard burst from Max Kavalajian late in the fourth quarter to put the game essentially out of reach. Fairfax also scored when Abhishek Luthra returned a fumble 45 yards for a score, but for the majority of the game, the Rebels had trouble advancing past midfield.
“It’s the best we’ve played on defense. In the two scrimmages we weren’t very good,” said head coach Mike Scott. “We played pretty well tonight. We had them on their heels a little bit.”
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After splitting time with Wattenbarger at quarterback last year, Tony Hysjulien was slated to take over full-time duties this season. He struggled early though, and after taking a couple of hard hits while playing defense, where he made two interceptions, Scott elected to shift him to receiver. All he did there was make three impressive catches for 72 yards in the fourth quarter, the last one a 28-yard touchdown that included a nice move around a defender.
“We were going to go with him, but he got kind of dinged up playing both ways,” Scott said of Hysjulien. “We weren’t planning on that. He’s really our best playmaker, so we’ve got to use him the best way we can.”
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While Wattenbarger’s first few passing attempts were off target, he begin to put the ball on the mark late in the third quarter only to see several would be catches dropped by receivers. While Scott still plans on going back to Hysjulien, he hinted that he might be open to giving Wattenbarger more snaps.
“We’ll go back and look at it and see,” he said. “We feel like we have two guys that can play, but the plan wasn’t to have two guys play.”
The Atoms’ other points came on a 25-yard field goal by Joe Bermingham in the second quarter.
Annandale remains home next Friday for a Patriot District match up with Lake Braddock.