Herndon Gets Hyped at Baron Cameron Bowl

Herndon High School’s JL Griffiths Stadium was packed Friday night as South Lakes came to visit for the annual Baron Cameron Bowl.

It was Herndon’s first home game of the season.

South Lakes took the lead in the second quarter with a little over three minutes left. The score was 7-0 going into halftime.

With 1:49 left in the third period, an 8-yard run led to another touchdown for the Seahawks. After an extra-point kick by South Lakes’ Jeremiah Norman, the score was 14-0 going into the fourth quarter.

With 7:46 left in the fourth quarter, South Lakes scored a third touchdown, taking the game to 21-0, but Herndon wouldn’t let the Seahawks walk away with a shut out.

With just 10 seconds left in the game, Herndon’s Malcolm McKenzie scored on a 60-yard pass from quarterback Ryan McLaughlin, and the game ended with a final score of 21-7.

“I’m really disappointed for our seniors. I’m disappointed for our team,” Coach Brian Day said after the game. He said he felt they had a lot of really great opportunities they didn’t capitalize on and didn’t finish.

One of the things the Hornets are focusing on this year is finishing, Day said.

“There’s a lot of adjustments and things that come with experience,” he said. “Right now we’re showing inexperience.”

But compared to last week’s game against Langley, the team improved, Day said. “Much better in the sense that the way we came out and played, he said. “Defense was much better this week.”

Day said they need to get first downs offensively and keep their defense fresh. “When we don’t we hurt ourselves a little bit,” he said.

“I don’t think we’re quite where we want to be yet, certainly not at 0-2, but like I told the kids, this isn’t the end of anything,” Day said. “There’s a lot of teams in the NFL that start 0-2 and can put it together.”

Day said what the team needs is more time to keep practicing, believing and building the team.

“Like any game there’s going to be a million things we did wrong—we did a million good things,” Day said.

During halftime, principals William Bates and Kim Retzer announced that the two schools would have another chance to compete against each other as they see who can get more students to participate in the Reston Interfaith Help the Homeless walk.

Each school will hold a walk this October. This year will be the third year Herndon participates in the walk. Students have raised more than $300,000 for Reston Interfaith.

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