Penalties Plague Atoms in Season-Opening Loss

Last Friday night's season opening football game between the Annandale High School Atoms and the Centreville High School Wildcats saw the debut of new head coaches on both sides; however, one team looked like a well-oiled machine, while the other shot itself in the foot.

The Atoms committed 10 penalties in their 28-6 loss to the Wildcats, which prevented them from building any rhythm on offense.

Heading into halftime, the Atoms trailed 28-0, but Head Coach Mike Scott had a message for his team.

"I told them we're not going to quit. The game wasn't over," said Scott.

While the final score was not the outcome the first-year coach was hoping for, the Atoms did not let the Wildcats score in the second half and put together a scoring drive of their own.

The Atoms ran a quarterback rotation throughout the night, swapping out juniors Adam Wattenbarger and Tony Hysjulien every other drive.

Coach Scott wanted to give each signal caller an opportunity to step up and claim the starting role for the season. While neither asserted himself in the first three quarters, Hysjulien lead Annandale's only scoring drive of the night in the fourth.

After a 19-yard pass from Hysjulien to senior wide receiver Jake Barnes and a 10-yard carry by junior Tyrek Worrell, Hysjulien scrambled into the end zone on an eight-yard run.

Penalties held back Annandale from the start, but Centreville continually gashed the Atoms' defense for big plays.

 "We didn't play very good on defense. We had opportunities. We had them in third-and-long a bunch of times in the first half and didn't stop them," said Scott.

Perhaps the most important sign of the night came when Hysjulien remained in the game on the Atoms' next drive. He completed a 26-yard pass to Barnes, then scrambled for 29 yards and had Annandale poised to make a game of it.

However, penalties once again reared their ugly head, and a few missed blocks compounded those penalties, leading to an eventual turnover on downs.

The story of the night was the quarterback shuffle, and while Hysjulien may be the clubhouse leader after the first game of the season, Wattenbarger ensured Coach Scott still has a tough decision to make.

After the Wildcats went up 7-0 in the first quarter, senior receiver DJ Lawrence took off down the sideline untouched. Wattenbarger hit him in stride for what should have been a touchdown, but Lawrence let the pass slip through his hands.

In the third quarter, Wattenbarger hooked up with Lawrence on a 38-yard pass, giving the Atoms an excellent chance to get on the scoreboard.. Centreville junior Connor Coward picked off Wattenbarger's next pass, killing any momentum the previous play generated.

Scott has yet to say how he will handle the quarterback situation on Friday, when Annandale hosts the Falls Church Jaguars in its 2010 home opener. The game starts at 7:30 pm.