The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

BY CHUCK CULPEPPER

new york — With her newly

familiar face rich in the calm that

makes it look wiser than her

ludicrous age and rather at peace

amid tennis fracas, 15-year-old

Coco Gauff spent the early eve-

ning Tuesday piling more brick-

work on her growing, glowing

reputation. In the first U.S. Open

main-draw match of her life after

her introductory surge last

month at Wimbledon, she locat-

ed her steadiness and let that

carry her across some rapids.

She bested a fellow former

junior No. 1 player and a fellow

teenager, 18-year-old Anastasia

Potapova of Russia, in a 3-6, 6-2,

6-4 winding road inside Louis

Armstrong Stadium, the U.S.

Open’s second-biggest court. An

end-of-session crowd both en-

thusiastic and sparser than it

should have been — half-full or

half-empty — witnessed

SEE U.S. OPEN ON D3

It was a test run for how Ramapo, the defending

state champion, will practice during the regular sea-

son in adherence to New Jersey’s sweeping new rule,

considered the most aggressive statewide player-safe-

ty measure ever instituted for high school football. The

rule, implemented at a time of dwindling participation

numbers and amid continuing concerns over head

injuries that can be suffered while playing the sport,

restricts teams to 15 minutes of full-contact drills

during the regular season, down from 90 minutes in

2018.

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Association

trumpeted the rule change as “historic” in a February

news release, adding that full contact in the state “has

been reduced to the lowest level in the history of

SEE RAMAPO ON D6

T

he gruff veteran coach stood at midfield and

studied his stopwatch.

“Eyes up!” Drew Gibbs screamed as the sec-

onds ticked away.

It was a preseason football practice at Ramapo High

earlier this month, and the coach was allowing himself

just 15 minutes to teach his players how to tackle. Only

they weren’t actually tackling.

The players scurried off to four stations on the

corners of the field. At one, players tackled each other

into a giant red pad on the ground. At another, they hit

a padded sled. At two others, they simply wrapped

each other up, trying carefully to avoid what on this

team is considered a cardinal sin.

“Stay off the ground!” Gibbs yelled over and over,

before the 15-minute period ended.

BY ROMAN STUBBS

IN FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J.

KLMNO

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY SAM FORTIER

It took Patrick Corbin three

batters to find his footing. The

single, hit by pitch and double —

which seemed as if they would

become harmless first-inning hic-

cups — eventually doomed the

Washington Nationals on Tues-

day night against the lowly Balti-

more Orioles because, 10 pitches

after the left-hander stepped on

the mound, the damage that

would decide the game was al-

ready done.

That Corbin exited the inning

having allowed just two runs

looked like an escape, but those

two runs loomed larger and larger

as the game got later and later.

The Nationals’ recently unstoppa-

ble offense — the one tied for the

most runs in August in the majors

— seemed like it would resurface

in the eighth, when they loaded

the bases with two outs. Manager

Dave Martinez had more power-

ful options on the bench, includ-

ing Howie Kendrick, but he said

he never considered pinch-hit-

ting for Asdrúbal Cabrera, who

struck out to snuff the Nationals’

last meaningful chance.

The offense, officially AWOL,

shouldered the responsibility for

the 2-0 loss. The players and the

manager described the defeat, es-

sentially, as “that’s baseball.” Nei-

ther that rationale, nor the cush-

ion of the team’s hot streak as of

late, lessened the frustration,

though.

“It’s not easy to flush — believe

me,” Martinez said. “I’ll go home

and watch the game.”

The defeat stung because the

National League East-leading

Atlanta Braves fell in similarly

SEE NATIONALS ON D4

BY SAM FORTIER

Montez Sweat was getting frus-
trated. The Washington Redskins’
rookie edge rusher, the one the
team traded back into the first
round to draft, was struggling to
get into the backfield during the
team scrimmage at Monday’s
practice.
Sweat had already missed a
week or so of the preseason with a
calf injury, and he wanted to make
up for lost time. The team’s Sept. 8
season opener at Philadelphia
was getting closer. But whenever
Sweat rushed, left tackle Donald
Penn grabbed a fistful of his jersey
and yanked.
“Got under my skin a little bit,”
Sweat said.
Afterward, Penn grinned as he
described his holds, all of which
he maintained “extra late,” some-
times even after the play was
whistled dead. Sweat and Penn
have a good relationship — the
veteran points out the technical
adjustments the rookie must
make, while the rookie’s motor
keeps the veteran working hard —
but this time, at one point, the

laughs and jokes subsided. The

situation irritated Sweat.

Penn walked over after practice

and explained: In a game, he

wouldn’t hold Sweat, but in prac-

tice, when refs won’t call it, he will

because it’s a teaching opportu-

nity.

“You got to learn to get off

holds,” Penn said. “They don’t call

every hold in the game.”

For Sweat, this was another lit-

tle lesson in a preseason full of

them. There has been added scru-

tiny on him this preseason both

because of what the Redskins

traded to the Indianapolis Colts to

get him with the 26th pick — a

second-rounder this year and an-

other next year — and because of

why the highly rated rusher

dropped that far.

Before the draft, Sweat was

graded by most experts as a top-10

pick and one of the three best

available edge rushers. His skill

set has never been in greater

demand in an increasingly pass-

SEE REDSKINS ON D10

Cold spell

at the plate

dooms Nats

against O’s

ORIOLES 2,

NATIONALS 0

Journeyman Brooks

outpitches Corbin

The reason you

may be enjoying

the Washington

Nationals so much

these days is not

just that they have

the best record in

Major League

Baseball for the

past 80 games or

that they have fun with their

home run dance line in the

dugout.

The hidden cause of your

pleasure is that the Nats play a

game that some consider

endangered: traditional,

balanced, exciting, multifaceted

baseball.

In a slugging-obsessed,

monochromatic, three-true-

outcomes sport, the Nats play a

version of the game that

emphasizes every offensive tool —

including some that many in the

game now disdain, such as

stealing bases, contact hitting and

eschewing strikeouts. The results,

especially as the team has taken

Manager Dave Martinez’s ideas to

heart in recent months, have been

a bit mind-boggling.

When the Nationals won their

four National League East titles,

with 95 to 98 victories each time,

they outscored their foes by 137,

131, 151 and 147 runs.

In their previous 80 games

entering Tuesday, the Nats had

outscored their foes by 147 runs.

As soon as you finish being

impressed by that, consider this:

On Tuesday the Nats faced a

Baltimore starter with an 8.07

ERA. The O’s won, 2-0. Ironically,

the Nats lost because they

couldn’t execute what General

Manager Mike Rizzo calls

SEE BOSWELL ON D4

Old-school

approach

has worked

during surge

Thomas

Boswell

Playing it safe, and winning

Inspired by undefeated

state champion,

New Jersey adopts

aggressive measure

to avoid head injuries

BRYAN ANSELM FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Players wait for the ball to be hiked at Ramapo High, where the team didn’t tackle to the ground at all during practices

last season and went 13-0 en route to a state title. “We’ve made the game safer than it’s ever been,” Coach Drew Gibbs said.

Redskins rookie Sweat

tackles the small things

Gau≠ drops a set, keeps calm, moves on

The 15-year-old stays steady during her tense debut appearance at U.S. Open

CLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES

Coco Gauff, who committed 11 double faults, outlasted fellow teen Anastasia Potapova of Russia.

PRO BASKETBALL

The first-place Mystics trounce the visiting Sparks. D3

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Terps quarterback Josh Jackson is looking ahead. D3

PRO FOOTBALL

One of these three could be the next Sean McVay. D10

Orioles at Nationals

Today, 7:05 p.m., MASN, MASN 2

Preseason: Ravens at Redskins

Tomorrow, 7:30, WRC-4, NBCSW

U.S. Open, second round

Today, noon, ESPN

Inside: 2018 champion Naomi

Osaka survives an early scare. D3