Oakton Takes Langley Down Hard, 42-3
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Oakton Takes Langley Down Hard, 42-3

Saxons struggle in the rain in football setback.

On paper, the high school football matchup between number two Oakton and number eight Langley was set up to be a battle; however the product on the field was anything but, as the Cougars smashed the Saxons 42-3 in the non-district game played last Friday night.

The home team Cougars started off slowly as senior Chris Coyer threw an interception on the first drive. But after that, the Saxons couldn’t stop the big play. On the next two possessions, Coyer ran free for touchdown runs of 34 and 72 yards, both in the second quarter to jump out to 14-0 lead that was never in doubt through the entire game.

Coyer was the star of the game, rushing for 132 yards while also passing for another 100 yards and a touchdown in front of a homecoming crowd that didn’t leave until the final play, despite the torrential downpour throughout the entire game.

The Cougars have now matched their season win total (5) of last season and have playoff aspirations once again. The 2005 Virginia AAA state champions returned a Northern Region-high 19 starters and are poised to make some noise in the post season.

<b>FOR LANGLEY</b>, things weren’t quite as fun, as they struggled to get anything going on offense against a much faster Oakton defense. Senior runningback David Helmer, who was averaging over 130 rushing yards a game, was held to a season low 63 yards and failed to reach the end zone for the first time since the season opener against Chantilly.

"Their defense was big and fast, so it was hard to make holes up the middle and helped them contain well, so I couldn’t run outside either," Helmer said.

Langley was also starting a new quarterback in senior Patrick Kelly due to the injury to third year starter senior Danny Pritchett last week against Marshall.

"[Kelly] did some things right, but any time you have a new quarterback playing, the timing with the receivers is going to be off," Langley head coach John Howerton said.

The one bright spot for Langley was a 45 yard field goal right before the half by sophomore Farhan Khan, despite the rain and the muddy conditions. Khan, who also kicked the game winning field goal against Herndon, is the best kicker Langley has had in years.

"[Khan] gives us a weapon that we haven’t had since I’ve been here…when you get inside the 30 [yard line], you tend to make mistakes. With him, it’s nice to know you have a kicker that can get you points from there," Coach Howerton said.

<b>LAST SEASON</b> Oakton was 5-3 with just one win needed to clinch a playoff spot. But the Cougars lost their last two games. So even though they have started strong this fall, the team knows it must continue to play hard.

"I think that this week showed our players that if we work hard and have a good week of practice that it will show out on the field … We have five hard weeks ahead. It all starts next week against Chantilly," Oakton’s head coach Joe Thompson said.