Eagles breeze past GW in postseason opener

BEALETON -- The message Steve Schultze preaches to his football team is solid execution. He had not seen that during the regular season.

On Saturday, Schultze stood on the sideline and watched his team do what he has asked.

Osbourn put on a solid offensive, defensive and special teams performance for a 56-15 victory over GW-Danville in the opening round of the Northwest Region Division 5 playoffs.

Next up for Osbourn (8-3) is a date at North Stafford.

"We know we're capable of playing and executing," Schultze said. "That hasn't always happened. We've played parts of games and tonight it seemed like we played the entire game where we had a dominant performance and played very good football."

That was a difference from Osbourn's regular-season finale against Heritage in which lack of discipline was evident with penalties and early turnovers. Timmy Keith fumbled the opening kickoff. His brother, quarterback, Thomas Keith, tossed an early interception, which led to Heritage's touchdown.

Fast forward to Saturday and the Eagles were flawless from the opening kickoff. Timmy Keith took the ball and ran 43 yards to the GW-Danville 33-yard line.

Five plays later, Osbourn had its first of eight touchdowns when Vidal Greene took the snap from center and tossed the ball to a wide open Lucky Whitehead for a 22-yard touchdown.

Timmy Keith added an 11-yard score before Thomas Keith gave Osbourn a 21-0 lead with a 72-yard run. Thomas Keith accounted for 227 of Osbourn's 352 yards of total offense.

"Coach told us if we execute, we'll come out with a win," Timmy Keith said. "We had to win the turnover battle, special teams and [limit] penalties. We came out here with our mindset high to try and get a win and advance."

All that went wrong for Osbourn was kicker Chris Boteler's missed 40-yard field goal and a fumbled snap by Thomas Keith, which resulted in a turnover.

Two of Osbourn's scores were provided by its defense. Robbie Carter returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown and C.J. Jackson ran a fumble 98 yards for a score.

Carter's pick came just as GW-Danville, facing a 21-0 deficit, was looking to put a drive together to get something going before halftime.

"I saw the man motion over, so I bumped back to the middle of the field," Carter said. "The end bumped the tight end. The [quarterback] threw it and I was right there for the pick."

A sack by defensive back Dimitri Mack on GW-Danville's final first half possession resulted in a seven-yard loss on the next-to-last play of the first half.

Linebacker Derek Burton also contributed by sacking quarterback Tim Moore to force a three-and-out on the prior series.

Only 80 and 85-yard touchdown runs from Devaughn Benion prevented Osbourn from coming away with a larger victory.

But it was still a win.

"We needed it," Carter said.

OSBOURN 56, GW-DANVILLE 15 (SAT.)

GW-Danville 0 0 0 15 -- 15

Osbourn 14 14 21 7 -- 56

First Quarter

O -- Whitehead 22 pass from Greene (Boteler kick), 9:56

O -- Timmy Keith 11 run (Boteler kick), 2:18

Second Quarter

O -- Thomas Keith 72 run (Boteler kick), 5:00

O -- Carter 46 interception return (Boteler kick), 3:34

Third Quarter

O -- Greene 8 run (Boteler kick), 7:31

O -- Slayton 8 pass from Thomas Keith (Boteler kick), 6:37

O -- Thomas Keith 41 run (Boteler kick), 3:58

Fourth Quarter

O -- Jackson 98 fumble return (Boteler kick), 11:38

GW -- Benion 80 run (Daniel pass from Ferrell), 11:21

GW -- Benion 85 run (Campbell kick), 2:45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: Benion 15-212, Jackson 13-50, Moore 5-18, Shuler 3-(-7), Mease 2-17; Osbourn, Thomas Keith 10-76, Greene 6-57, Bates 5-3, Timmy Keith 3-8, Delaney 2-8, Payne 2-(-11), Parker 1-33, Whitehead 1-2, Carter 1-2, Timbers 1-(-3).

Passing: GW-Danville, Shuler 2-4-1-59, Moore 0-1-0-0; Osbourn, Thomas Keith 9-14-0-151, Greene 1-1-0-13, Withers 1-1-0-13.

Receiving: GW-Danville, Ferrell 2-59; Osbourn, Whitehead 4-59, Timmy Keith 3-45, Clark 1-29, Carter 1-23, Huguley 1-13, Slayton 1-8.

Staff writer Robert Daski can be reached at 703-878-8049.