Football: Robinson 35, Chantilly 21

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

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As the Chantilly girls’ lacrosse and girls’ soccer teams received their state championship rings from last season — one-by-one — the already extended halftime between the Chargers and Rams was stretched another four minutes.

Robinson was happy to distance itself as much as possible from the first two quarters.

Chantilly held a 219-67 advantage in total yards and did not allow a first down until the 6-minute, 4-second mark of the second quarter.

The Rams held the ball for 9 minutes, 13 seconds. The Chargers had possession for 9:41 — in the first quarter.

But after the near 25-minute intermission, Robinson looked like a new team. It scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter, outgained Chantilly 100-38 in the frame and cruised to a 35-21 road win Friday.

“For this game, we weren’t as hyped in the beginning,” said Ram senior Connor Riley, who rushed 21 times for 126 yards and three scores. “But we came out and got our heads on straight in the second half. Everybody was coming out stronger.

“We weren’t coming off the ball [in the first half]. We weren’t hitting people, but we fixed it.”

Added Robinson coach Mark Bendorf: “They’ve got two real solid linebackers that were doing a really good job, so we changed up our formation packages to give us some better angles … They were a physical team — which we knew, we could tell from the film. They were tough to get movement on at the line of scrimmage. We had to work for everything we got.

“[We are] getting accustomed to responding to some adversity. I’d prefer not to be in that position to tell you the truth, but it gives you a little bit comfort that, the more you do that, the more confident you become as a team.”

Having one of the best late-game running backs in the region doesn’t hurt, either.

In the last two weeks, against Lake Braddock (4-2) and Chantilly (3-3, 0-1), Riley has had 58.1-percent of his carries — and 72.6 percent of his yards — after halftime. This week, he recorded 98 of his 126 yards in the second half, along with two of his three touchdowns.

He’s scored eight times in the last three weeks.

“We don’t think in terms of feature backs; we just kind of see who is hot. But I will say this, he seems to get better as the game goes on,” Bendorf said of Riley. “He wears down defenses. That last touchdown was a prime example of that.”

Entering the season, the Rams biggest uncertainty was how it would replace its starting backfield trio of running back Wynton Fox, running back Alex Murray and quarterback Timmy Meier.

That question mark has proven to be an exclamation point.

Junior quarter Mike LoPresti is 26-for-53 passing this season for 436 yards — 8.23 yards per attempt — with five touchdowns and one interception. Junior running back Jared Velasquez has eclipsed 100 rushing yards four times, totaling 695 yards on 95 attempts and 10 touchdowns. Riley has 640 rushing yards on 101 carries and 12 scores.

Robinson (6-0, 2-0) has already equaled or surpassed its win total for each of the last three seasons. The last time they were unbeaten this last in the season was 2004.

The Rams reached the state championship game that year.

“At first, we didn’t know what was going to go on,” said Riley, who had just 15 rush attempts last year. “Once we started doing a little offseason work, we knew were going to be strong in the backfield.”

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com

Box Score   1    2    3    4     —    F
Robinson           7    0 21   7    —   35
Chantilly        0 14 0    7    —   21

Scoring Plays
1Q — RB — Riley 2 run (Vassal kick) — 9:02
2Q — CH — Farris 1 run (Hutzel kick) — 11:56
2Q — CH — Yeon 77 run (Hutzel kick) — 2:16
3Q — RB — Velasquez 20 run (Vassal kick) — 11:12
3Q — RB — Riley 18 run (Vassal kick) — 7:09
3Q — RB — Velasquez 1 run (Vassal kick) — 1:06
4Q — CH — Farris 5 run (Hutzel kick) — 4:47
4Q — RB — Riley 37 run (Vassal kick) — 2:04

Passing
RB – LoPresti – 2-for-8, 38 yards. CH – Romine – 5-for-20, 101 yards.
Rushing
RB – Riley – 21 car, 126 yards, 3 TD; Velasquez – 13 car, 73 yards, 2 TD; Musokotwane – 1
car, 10 yards; LoPresti – 1 car, 1 yard. CH –
Yeon – 7 car,
97 yards, TD; Romine – 14 car, 86 yards; Farris – 19 car, 58 yards, 2 TD; Hicks
– 1 car, 4 yards; Hill – 2 car, 0 yards.
Receiving
RB – Zanellato – 1 rec, 24 yards; Velasquez
– 1 rec, 14 yards. CH – Martin – 2 rec, 66 yards; Voorhies – 2
rec, 36 yards; Harkness – 1 rec, -1 yard.
Total Yards

RB – 248. CH – 346.
Leading Tacklers
RB – Laiti – 6; P. Miller
– 6; Garcia – 5; Frenette – 4; McDevitt – 4; Willemsson – 4. CH – Eccleston – 5; Pratt – 5; Harkness – 4; Melchiori – 4; Strittmatter – 4; Voorhies – 4.
Times Targeted
RB – Zanellato – 6; Creighton – 1; Velasquez – 1. CH – Martin – 7; Voorhies – 4; Farris – 3; Harkness – 1; Hicks – 1; Reinhardt – 1; Simms – 1; Sydnor – 1; Yeon – 1
Time of Possession
RB – 20:22. CH – 27:38.