By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area

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Lee (5-0, 2-0) at Lake Braddock (3-2, 1-1)
Last Week: Lee won vs. Annandale, 33-23; Lake Braddock lost at Robinson, 28-21
Playoff Position (SOS): Lee (Div 5) 1st; Lake Braddock (Div 6) 7th

Best run game in the Northern Region meet the best run defense in the district, if not Division 6.

The Lancers have eclipsed 300 yards in three of their five games and average 345.0 yards per night. They are the only team with a statistically better rushing attack than Robinson.

The Bruins lost to those Rams, 28-21, on the road last week and yielded 201 rushing yards, a season-low for the top seed in Division 6.

Lake Braddock's other loss is by one point to Woodson, which is tied for the second seed in the Division 6 playoffs.

Now, its reward is the team with more PowerPoints than every team in the state, except Battlefield (6-0). Then, next week, it draws South County, the team tied with Woodson for that second slot.

Fun schedule.

Prior to yielding 201 yards to the Rams on 46 rushes, the Bruins gave up a total of 60 rushing yards to Westfield and T.C. Williams.

Lake Braddock is, by far, the most physically imposing team Lee has seen this season.

It's often a cop-out of mine to say the team that wins the battle in the trenches will win the game.

Here, I mean it.

Lee's undersized, but scrappy defensive line has looked better every week. Lancer junior Konbeh Koroma had two sacks and a 41-yard interception return touchdown last week in a 33-23 win over the Atoms.

As pivotal as the performance of four junior starters on its line is that of senior linebacker Eric Wright, who transferred from Paul VI with running back Idreis Augustus and is making quite a case for first-team all-district.

Lake Braddock junior quarterback Michael Nebrich had his best outing of the season last week at Robinson -- 26-for-40 passing for 270 yards, two touchdowns, one pickle -- and managed the game extremely well, rain notwithstanding.

But everything comes down to how the Bruins handle Augustus. He already has 1,089 combined rushing and receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, seven of which are 63 yards or longer.

Basically, he's Albert Pujols with the bases loaded.

Lake Braddock has to keep him contained, something no one since DeMatha been able to do.

Overused sports cliche: Big players make big plays in big games.

If Augustus cracks 170 yards again with an 80-yard touchdown -- again -- he's Region Player of the Year. Period.

If the Bruins figure out a way to slow him down, their berth in the playoffs is all but assured, sans a complete collapse; the PowerPoints from this game will be epic.

But if the Lancers can beat this oversized opponent on the road, go ahead and make reservations for tickets to the Division 5 regional final. No one in D5 is touching them.

Lake Braddock has won the last three games in this series, allowing six total points.

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com