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Sports

Flat Start Dooms T.C. Williams

Titans fall to 1-2 with 29-14 loss at Oakton

The glow of last weekend's win over rival Mount Vernon was short-lived as turnovers, untimely penalties and an inability to get the offense in gear put T.C. Williams in an early hole from which it would never recovered in a 29-14 loss at Oakton on Thursday night.

The Cougars began the scoring midway through the first with a 35-yard field goal from junior Eric Goins. Less than 3 minutes later, senior quarterback Jimmy Boone connected with junior receiver Tuck Masker on 53-yard pass for the game's first touchdown.  

After trading punts, Goins connected on a 46-yard field goal to push the lead to 13-0 early in the second quarter.

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"We didn't have very good practices Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday," Titans Coach Dennis Randolph said. "I can't explain it. We had a good win against Mount Vernon and then we came out this week very flat."

Twice the T.C. Williams defense forced Oakton into punt formation on fourth down only to commit penalties to keep the opponent's drive alive.

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"We didn't prepare very well," Randolph said. "You can't make mistakes against good football teams. When that happens, you lose."

The Oakton defense dominated the line of scrimmage early and kept the Titans offense out of sync.  

"We couldn't move the ball on the ground because we weren't getting off the [line of scrimmage] very hard," Titans quarterback Doug Murphy said. "Once we fixed that we started moving the ball down the field. "

Midway through the second quarter, the Titans showed some life as Zaquan Summers  broke a 50-yard run to start the drive. Will Rossi ended it with a 25-yard catch and run for a score from Murphy. Rossi's second touchdown of the season brought the Titans within 13-7 with 4:30 to go in the first half.

"You are hoping for a glimmer of hope when you score, but we couldn't capitalize," Randolph said.

The ensuing kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback but was called back on an offsides penalty. Oakton took advantage of the re-kick as senior Charlie Dixon made a return deep into the Titans' territory.

Boone then tallied his second touchdown pass of the night on a 9-yard strike to Luke Willis to put Oakton up 20-7 at the half.   

Boone added his third scoring pass of the night in the third quarter on a connection with Dixon to put the Cougars up 26-7 following a failed two-point conversion.

A fumble from the Cougars in the fourth quarter gave the Titans the ball on the Oakton 25-yard line. With starter Murphy sidelined after suffering a concussion early in the quarter, sophomore backup Alex Grosser stepped in and gave the Titans a much-needed lift. He needed only a few snaps to find senior wide receiver Tyrell Sitton for a 9-yard strike to bring the Titans within 12 at 26-14 with 7:37 remaining in the game.  

But the momentum was again short-lived as Oakton recovered the Titans' onside-kick attempt and was given an additional 15 yards after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on the Titans after the whistle.  

Goins would add his third field goal of the night, this time a 27-yarder, to provide the final score.

This week, Randolph and the Titans are looking forward to getting standout tackle Jay Whitmire back from an ankle injury suffered in preseason.

"He will be back [at practice] Monday," Randolph said. "He is moving around pretty good the last few days"

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