Sterling, Va. — For some teams, winning their Homecoming game is the highlight of the season, and that couldn’t be more true for the Dominion High School football team, who—not only celebrated their Homecoming game with a win—but also won their first game of the season, taking down Rock Ridge, 30-6, on October 5 in Sterling.

After a three-and-out on their opening offensive series of the night, the Dominion defense took the field for the first time, ready to make a statement.

On the Titans’ third defensive play of the night, sophomore defensive lineman Barry Gedyon quickly broke through the offensive line and sacked the quarterback in the endzone for a safety.

“The defense played well all game, and that play in particular got us going,” Dominion head coach Drake Woodard said. “We wanted to be the aggressors early and often, and I think we did that.”

Following another three-and-out by their offense, the Titans’ defense headed back out to the field, and, this time, on the fourth play of the drive, Dominion forced a fumble which was recovered by senior defensive back Jahan Beg.

With the defense showing out, the Dominion offense knew it needed to step up, and it did just that when senior quarterback Graham Deaton hit senior running back Junior Peterson with a 56-yard touchdown pass to extend the Titans’ lead to 9-0.

With less than a minute to play in a rather uneventful second quarter, the Rock Ridge offense found some life as sophomore quarterback Xavier Smith found senior receiver DJ Ferrell down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown pass to cut their deficit to 9-6 heading into the half.

“[DJ Ferrell] is a hell of a player, and we knew that coming into the game,” Woodard said. “We wanted to make sure that we gave him different looks off the line of scrimmage and had a body around him at all times.”

Despite Ferrell breaking free late in the first half, the Dominion defense proved stout to start the third quarter, giving the offense their best starting field position of the night at the Rock Ridge 27, following a tackle for an 11-yard loss.

“I thought our defensive line and linebackers played well all game, making tackles and flying to the football,” Woodard said. “We stunted on some of those plays, but, for the most part, we just executed our assignments.”

Two plays later, Beg carried in a touchdown from 7 yards out to extend the Dominion lead to 16-6.

It didn’t take the Titans long to add to their lead as sophomore defensive back David Reyes picked off Smith, setting up a pitch and catch from Deaton to senior receiver Christian Armenteros-Yearwood for a 39-yard touchdown.

Then, for good measure, Peterson carried in a 2-yard touchdown with less than a minute to play in the third quarter to mark the final score 30-6.

Dominion (1-5) will look to earn back-to-back wins when they travel to Heritage on October 13. Meanwhile, Rock Ridge (2-4) will have an uphill battle to get back in the win column as they host Dulles District No. 1 Tuscarora in Ashburn.

“Our kids, coaches, and community were ecstatic,” Woodard said. “We haven’t been playing to our potential, but tonight, we were able to outplay Rock Ridge in certain moments of the game and get the W.”

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