After dropping the first two games of the season, the football team bounced back hard with a four-game winning streak behind the return of junior quarterback, Lansana Keita, who missed the first two games of the season due to family reasons.

The team defeated Magruder 16-14 Oct. 8 at CHS in a come-from-behind victory to boost the team’s record to 4-2.

“[Keita] is a good leader on the offense and knows everyone’s roles in plays,” senior Bret Johnson said. “He has good chemistry.”

Trailing 14-3 in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs had to make a move. After driving down the field behind workhorse-running back junior Curtis Kamara, the Bulldogs finally broke into the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run by Keita.

On the ensuing possession, senior captain Jake Sickels intercepted a pass thrown by Magruder to give the Bulldogs a chance to score with six minutes left.

Down 14-9 and with good field position, the Bulldogs moved quickly down the short field and capped the drive off with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Keita to junior Quan Gill, with five-minutes remaining.

To finish the game, the Bulldogs had to stop the Colonels in the final few minutes. After gaining two first downs, the Colonels faced a fourth and long situation. In an attempt to convert, it threw the ball deep but the play was broken up with a diving effort from junior Ryan Tubbs.

“We showed a lot of heart and character in coming back,” Johnson said. “We were able to finish and didn’t give up on each other.”

The win streak also featured victories over Northwest Oct. 1, Richard Montgomery Sept. 24, and Walter Johnson Sept. 16.

However, the streak came to an end against rival Wooton Oct. 15. In front of their homecoming crowd, the Patriots defeated the Bulldogs 48-42 in quadruple overtime.

Near the end of regulation, with the score knotted up at 21, the Bulldogs had one last chance to drive down the field and score. Facing a fourth and six from midfield with two minutes left, Keita dropped back and found senior Jesse Simon cutting across the middle for a first down.

“We needed to make a play to beat Wootton,” Keita said. “I saw him open so I gunned it in there.”

The play put the Bulldogs into field goal range, but the kick was blocked as time expired to start overtime.

In MCPS football games, the overtime works much like that of collegiate teams. Each team gets a chance to start with the ball at the opponents ten-yard line with four downs to try and score. If both teams produce the same amount of points, then another round is started with the team who got the ball the second time now starting with it.

After scoring on their first three possessions in overtime, including a miracle conversion on fourth and 16, the Bulldogs offense finally blundered in the fourth overtime with a turnover, and the Patriots capitalized with a touchdown on their next possession to win the game.

“We are done thinking about Wootton,” Johnson said. “We are going to learn our lessons from it and move on. We plan on picking up our intensity and staying focused in practice to where we can play our best.”

The Bulldogs next game will be Oct. 29 against B-CC.