Cougars Run to Victory Over Seneca Valley, 9-6

Frustration had been building the entire game for Quince Orchard Dave Mencarini. As heavy rains poured down Saturday afternoon at the Cougar Dome, he stormed the sidelines and watched as time and time again, his unbeaten Cougars failed to finish drives despite moving the ball effectively all night.

But as has been the case all season, Mark Green was there when Mencarini and the Cougars needed him most. With the team's undefeated season in jeopardy late in the fourth quarter, trailing by four points and without an offensive score all night, Green's 21-yard touchdown run with 3:39 left in the game was just enough to lift the host Cougars to a 9-6 win over the visiting Seneca Valley Screamin' Eagles before a wet yet exuberant crowd that included members of Quince Orchard's 1991 state title team.

"Right from the start we were thinking touchdown on that play," Green said, adding that his offensive line did a nice job picking up its blocks. "I found a crease and broke a tackle and dove into the endzone. It felt good."

Green finished with 271 yards off 39 carries -- more than 150 of which came in the second half. Green now has four career games with at least 200 yards rushing and his 826 yards so far this season make him fourth in the entire DC area in rushing and first in Montgomery County.

"I keep telling people that [Mark] is the best player in the county," Mencarini said after the game. "The way he can take over a game when he needs to...he's a warrior and he never quits."

After a slow start for both teams, Quince Orchard (5-0) got on the scoreboard first on an errant punt snap deep in Seneca Valley (4-1) territory that forced Seneca punter Junior Arcaro to kick the ball into the back of his own endzone for a safety that put the Cougars up 2-0 with 7:29 left in the second quarter.

Then later in the half, after the Cougars were unsuccessful on a fourth-and-four play in Seneca territory, the Screamin' Eagles took over at their own 29-yard line and on the first play on their ensuing drive, James Jones-Williams took the ball 71 yards for a touchdown to give Seneca a 6-2 halftime lead (after the extra point was blocked). 

The score would remain that way for much of the entire second half until Green's late score, but it was Quince Orchard's defense that kept Seneca off the board for the final 24 minutes, allowing just five first downs the whole game and intercepting Screamin' Eagle quarterback Tanner Vallely deep in their own territory.

 "I am proud of my kids," Mencarini said. "The same thing has happened a lot of times in my career. We just hang in there, we keep battling and we made the plays late in the game that we needed to."

Jones-Williams finished with 112 yards off 14 carries, with the majority of it coming on two plays, including his first-half score.

"Our kids played hard," Seneca coach Fred Kim said after the game. "I certainly can't fault them for anything. That's an outstanding football team we played today. Our kids played with a tremendous amount of heart, passion and character but, they just wore us down a little bit there in the end."

With the win, the Cougars now remain the last unbeaten team in Montgomery County, thanks to Damascus' loss to Sherwood and Gaithersburg's loss to Churchill on Friday. 

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Check back with North Potomac Patch tomorrow for a photo gallery of the 20th anniversery celebration for the 1991 Quince Orchard state championship football team.