Olney gets past Southern, 8-6

Except for very scattered raindrops, the promised water never made an appearance yesterday afternoon at Southern High's football field.

Similarly, on Wednesday night, the recommended amount of H2O never passed through Eric Barrow's lips en route to his stomach.

You know the deal. Butchering the hydration process can cramp a guy's style.

"I messed up," Barrow said. "I didn't get enough water. We were only supposed to have a walk-through practice . But some guys were playing around and coach Strube made us suit up for a regular practice. I put out a lot of energy. After I got home, I was so tired, I took a shower and just went to sleep.

"On maybe my third run, I felt that knot in my left calf. It was like, 'This is a bad sign.'"

Barrow, a 5-8, 200-pound senior, plays running back and linebacker for Olney. Performs well in those spots, too. And from now on, he promises, he won't neglect to hydrate.

In a nonleague game that was decent overall, despite a low score, and featured a rollicking fourth quarter, Barrow wound up making the difference as the Trojans edged Southern, 8-6.

With 5:17 left, after junior quarterback Jaron "Snoop" Turner raced 14 yards for a left-corner touchdown on a bootleg keeper, tying the score at 6-6, Barrow got the call on the conversion run.

Off to the right he began to trot. Turner made the flip. Oops. The ball clanked off Barrow's hands to the turf. No sweat. It bounced right back up, Barrow regained possession with no hesitation and sauntered into the end zone.

"Snoop pitched it a little bit too low," Barrow said. "My thought was, 'They're gonna stop me.' But I was able to control the ball and when I saw a little opening, I took it. Felt good."

The winning drive covered 72 yards in 13 plays and featured a few interesting subplots involving Barrow.

During the trek he carried six times for 29 yards and made a clutch, 19-yard catch over the middle right after the Trojans had been hit with penalties (totaling 17 yards) on back-to-back plays. He also suffered his first scare of the season. (This was Olney's opener. Southern fell to Edward Bok Tech last Friday.)

After completing a 10-yard run, moving the ball to Southern's 35, Barrow (14 carries, 84 yards) flip-flopped around on the ground in what appeared to be intense pain. As he finally headed to the sideline, under his own power, he was heard to comment, "I thought I heard something click."

Uh, oh.

"Yeah, I thought my knee popped," he said. "I thought I tore something in there. It went numb on me, and everything. I didn't know what to do. I guess I was just scared. A couple of my teammates helped me stretch it out on the sideline, then I asked to go back in."

Barrow only missed two plays. Just before Turner scored, Barrow missed out on a TD when his 2-yard run was erased by a very late holding call.

"When I saw that yellow flag, I was like, 'Are you serious?'" he said. "I thought that was the game. But then Snoop made his nice run and we all got happy again."

Turner also passed 3-for-3 for 63 yards on the winning drive; the catches aside from Barrow's were made by Claudy Mathieu (14 yards) and Julius Broughton (30; soaring).

Southern answered with a respectable drive of its own, advancing to Olney's 20 thanks to clutch runs by Lamar Williams (22 yards) and Sean Allen (13 and 9; 15-135 for the game). Sharif Paige (11 yards) and Kevin Presley (8) responded with consecutive tackles for losses and Turner soon was breaking up a fourth-down pass.

The Rams scored on Izeem Sims' 8-yard, first-quarter junket. The conversion run failed. Also, Shaquille Gaskins provided overall Southern highlights with a pair of leaping, way-up-there catches, good for 53 yards, on throws from basketball teammate Mac Stokes.

Barrow, who lives in Germantown and envisions a career in social work, like his father, Dwayne, has always dreamed of enjoying key-back status. That was why he didn't hesitate to give Strube a playcalling suggestion, or three.

"I thought I was being underused a little," he said, smiling. "I thought Southern was looking sweet in the middle, so I told coach Strube to give me the ball some more. I pounded it in there.

"In Pop Warner, I was a back for one team, then a lineman for another - oh, no, didn't want that - and then back to running for the original team. Now in my last year for Olney, I want to do everything I can to help us win."

Week 3 will bring a tussle vs. Murrell Dobbins Tech.

"Can't wait," he said. "That's gonna be big. One of their linebackers, Terrence Stafford, is my best friend. Lives three doors away . We haven't gone against each other since Pop Warner ball. He's already saying, 'I'll be comin' to get you.'"

Not before Eric Barrow hits the water bottles.