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A Taitano win for Patuxent
RB gains 177 yards, four TDs in blowout
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Patuxent running back Frank Taitano rips off a long run in the first half. The senior later left the game with an ankle injury.
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During its Homecoming festivities, the Patuxent High School marching band played the school's fight song. Not long afterward, the Panthers took the fight out of visiting Great Mills with a decisive 43-14 win Friday.
Patuxent has won its last two games and the 43 points was a season-high, eclipsing the 41 it scored against Leonardtown in Week 2.
The Panthers (4-2, 4-1 SMAC) needed just four offensive plays to score three touchdowns and all but put the game away.
The Hornets (3-3, 1-3) took the opening kickoff and marched down field but gave up the ball on downs. Two plays later, Patuxent senior Frank Taitano burst through a hole and rumbled 75 yards for the score.
Marquez Stewart gave the Panthers the ball at the Hornets' 12-yard line when he blocked a punt and Taitano promptly ripped off a 12-yard scoring run.
On Patuxent's next possession, Taitano tore off a 66-yard touchdown run. He later scored his fourth touchdown of the night after crashing through from two yards out.
"It was nice [to see those holes open]," said Taitano, who had an apparent fifth touchdown — a 52-yarder — erased after an inadvertent whistle. "It was nice to just come out and play."
"Frank's pretty dynamic," Patuxent head coach Steve Crounse said. "Once he gets into the middle field he has good vision and he's a good runner."
Great Mills head coach Bill Griffith added: "They did a good job [blocking]. We just did not get to our assignments. They did not do what they were supposed to do."
Taitano, who amassed 177 yards on just eight carries, injured his ankle in the second quarter and was held out the rest of the game for precautionary measures.
"It didn't really hurt," Taitano said, "but the coaches didn't want to risk it."
Patuxent led 20-0 after the first quarter and carried a 27-6 lead into halftime.
"I think our kids fired off the ball and our offensive line did a real good job," Crounse said. "Once we find something that works, we stick with it."
"It felt real good to get a lead and blow them out," Patuxent lineman/linebacker Stewart said, "so our other players could get in the game because they're a part of this team, too.
For Griffith, the night was one he'd rather forget.
"It was one of those nights we didn't get anything going our way," he said. "The kids didn't come to play. What can you do? I know what our kids can do; I know they can play football.
"Teams have bad practices but teams come out and play hard, and tonight we did not come out to play football. I'm very surprised. I haven't seen this [effort] since last year."
Taitano's fourth score of the night was set up by Patuxent defensive lineman Jamar Wallace, who forced a fumble at the Panther 10-yard line.
Wallace scooped up the ball, hesitated and then, when he realized it was a fumble and not an incomplete pass, bulldozed his way downfield to the Great Mills 2.
"I was trying to score," Wallace said of his 84-yard return. "There were two defenders so I tried to jump over one [but] I was really tired."
The Panthers rolled up 362 rushing yards, thanks in part to 84 by Andre Williams in relief of Taitano. But it was the defense that sparkled.
Patuxent held quarterback Brian Jenner, who came into the game leading the conference in passing yards, to a 40 percent completion rate and just 187 yards (8.9 yards per catch).
"[We wanted to] pressure the quarterback," Wallace said, "and stop their passing game."
"We kept just enough pressure on him to keep him out of his rhythm," Crounse said. "Nobody really got to that kid [in previous weeks] and we didn't think we could get to him but we wanted to make it so he wasn't comfortable in the pocket. He had to move and he had to throw on the run. "He couldn't throw in rhythm, and the kid can throw the ball."
Patuxent also forced two interceptions, one each by Stewart and Collin Gantt, whose pick ended the game. Stewart also added a blocked punt.
"All week we'd been practicing punts and getting in there and sacrificing ourselves," he said.
Results Patuxent 43, Great Mills 14
Great Mills 0 6 0 8
Patuxent 20 7 3 13
First quarter
P - Taitano 77 run (Maratta kick), 3:10
P - Taitano 12 run (Maratta kick), 4:54
P - Taitano 66 run (kick failed), 7:51
Second quarter
P - Taitano 2 run (kick failed), 2:00
G - Johnson 17 pass from Jenner (kick failed), 11:47
Third quarter
P - Maratta 23 FG, 7:27
Fourth quarter
P - Williams 5 run (Maratta kick), 3:02
G - Anderson 25 pass from Jenner, (Jenner pass to Johnson), 5:45
P – Garner 21 run (kick failed), 8:31
Team stats
G (14 first downs, 22-100 rushing, 187 passing, 3-2 fumbles, 6-53 penalties)
P (11 first downs, 44-362 rushing, 66 passing, 3-2 fumbles, 8-47 penalties)
Top individual performers
Rushing – G: Petett 8-49; P: Taitano 8-177, Williams 8-84, Hagelin 15-41
Passing – G: Jenner 21-52-2 187; P: Massengill 5-7-0 66, Santangelo 0-0-1 0
Receiving – G: Anderson 3-39 P: Gantt 1-24, Hillegas 1-19
