On Oct. 10, 2017, the PHS varsity football team lined up against the Rockville Rams to face off in a game of American football. After two losses in a row against Blake 14-12 and against Damascus at 42-0, a 47-6 win against Rockville changed the course of their season.

When defensive end Liam Speck-McMorris was asked about the team’s game attitude he said, “We came out ready to win. We stayed focused, never got too cocky, and most importantly we played smart football.”

The Falcons started the first quarter with quarterback Brandon Taylor throwing a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Sam Garrett, pulling the team ahead in the first few minutes of the start of the game. This set the team up to score the first touchdown of the game. Running back Connell Oberman pushed forward for a 20 yard-run just after the first touchdown, once again setting the team up. The Falcons were up 14-0 in the first quarter. Even when the Rams had the ball, the Falcons didn’t stop for a second. Defensive end Ryan Kasten sacked the Rams quarterback on their third down. Just in the first quarter, the Falcons were pushing the Rams into a corner, and the game was looking up for the Falcons.

The Falcons started the second quarter with Taylor throwing a 29-yard pass to Garrett at the third down, getting the team back to first down. After this second pass to Garrett, the score was 21-6. Taylor switched things up, throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass to Slotback Zed Tejada. This put the Falcons in the lead 28-6. Leading by a 22 point margin, Taylor once again threw a 27-yard pass to Garrett. This second quarter wrapped up, and fans watched the Poms homecoming performance for the halftime show. Homecoming court walked down the field with friends and family as homecoming princes and princesses were announced.

Two field goals and one touchdown were brought home by the Falcons during the third quarter while the Rams were stalled, remaining at 6 points. The Falcons were on their 3rd down at 41-6 when our QB threw a whopping 79-yard touchdown pass to Garrett, making the final score of 47-6. The whole team played well, with Garrett and Oberman giving  4/5 touchdowns and  Kasten getting 2.5 sacks. Taylor passed a total of 252 yards and threw all 5 touchdowns.

In the final stats, Poolesville had a total of 435 yards – 252 of which were passing yards and 183 of which were rushing yards.