SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D11
“Their defense never stopped us;
we kept stopping ourselves.”
As Saturday’s afternoon game
stretched into the night, the offi-
cials had a tough time keeping the
teams in line as frustration over
penalties began to boil over. With
8:56 remaining in the fourth
quarter, an Anacostia player
threw a punch, leading to a fight.
Both teams spilled onto the
field, resulting in a 15-minute
delay as officials tried to calm
everyone down and sort out the
situation.
“Once everyone was separated,
I told our guys that the only
fighting that we do on the field is
with our shoulder pads,” Nesbitt
said.
Coolidge had lost four straight
against Anacostia, dating from
2012.
“It feels like a weight has been
lifted off our shoulders, to be
honest with you,” Pelham said.
“This school had gone way too
long without beating these dudes.
I’m happy I was able to be a part
of it.”
[email protected]looked outside and got an eye on
the ball, I just went up and made
the play that my team needed me
to make.”
The Indians (6-2, 3-1) had
pitched six shutouts and lost, 6-0,
to Ballou on a defensive touch-
down. Coolidge (4-3, 4-0) wasn’t
daunted after having some nota-
ble offensive performances this
year.
“Coming in, we were definitely
aware of the scoreless streak and
convinced to put an end to it,”
Coolidge Coach Keith Nesbitt
said.
“The teams that they were
holding scoreless hadn’t really
been scoring against any teams,
so while we respected what they
had done so far, we were confi-
dent that we would be able to
score on them.”
Before Pelham’s score, the
Colts made four trips to the red
zone but came away with zero
points thanks in large part to
15 accepted penalties.
“Tonight was kind of frustrat-
ing because we could’ve scored
way more points,” Nesbitt said.BY TRAMEL RAGGSIn t he days leading up to Satur-
day’s District of Columbia Inter-
scholastic Athletic Association
football game, all Coolidge play-
ers heard about was Anacostia’s
vaunted defense and how it had
not allowed a point this season.
Wide receiver Tiyahn Pelham and
his Colts teammates changed
that.
With four minutes remaining
in the third quarter, Pelham
le aped to catch a 25-yard scoring
pass from quarterback Dizhaun
Hancock, and a two-point conver-
sion gave the Colts a lead they
never gave back during a 16-6
home win.
“It was a hard ball to catch
because I looked inside and the
ball went outside,” Pelham said of
his 13th touchdown of the season.
“We work hard on tracking
down passes in practice, so once I
players doubled over in anguish
and the ecstatic Yankees on the
top step of their dugout.
LeMahieu’s homer came at the
end of a 10-pitch at-bat in which
he fouled off four straight two-
strike pitches from Osuna.
Having led the entire game,
the Astros were suddenly in both
an emotional hole and a person-
nel one. They had blown through
all the best arms in their bullpen,
while the Ya nkees still had their
closer, Chapman, ready in theirs.
In lieu of fourth starters, both
teams opted for the once-dread-
ed, now-trendy bullpen game
Saturday night, started by New
York’s Chad Green and Houston’s
Brad Peacock.
It was still a jarring sight given
the stakes. It was also, if we’re
being honest, kind of fun.
On a 1-to-10 scale of organized
chaos, where one is the running
of the bulls in Pamplona a nd 10 is
a 3-year-old’s birthday party at
Chuck E. Cheese, a double-bull-
pen game on the second weekend
of a league championship series
is something like a six. Unofficial
press-box oddsmakers put the
over-under on the time of game
at four hours (it was 4:09), the
over-under on pitching changes
at 12.5 (there were 12).
By the bottom of the first, the
Astros had a 3-0 lead, courtesy of
Yuli Gurriel’s t hree-run homer off
Green. By the top of the second,
the Yankees had brought the
go-ahead run to the plate. By the
bottom of the second, both teams
were on their second pitchers of
the night. By the top of the third,
the Yankees had put the go-ahead
run on base, and the game was
visited by its fifth pitcher of the
night. And on and on it went.
To understand how two excep-
tional teams, winners of 210 reg-
ular season games and payroll-
spenders of nearly $400 million
between them, with Cy Young
winners, multiyear all-stars and
future Hall of Famers populating
their pitching staffs, wound up
with a pair of solid but unherald-
ed relief pitchers starting for
them in Game 6 of the ALCS, you
must begin with the rise of the
opener as a pitching strategy
beginning with the Ta mpa Bay
Rays in 2018 — and its subse-
quent spread across the game.
You must recall, as well, that
both teams lost their presump-
tive No. 4 starters down the
ALCS FROM D1
D.C. INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL
Colts halt Indians’ scoreless streak
COOLIDGE 16,
ANACOSTIA 6stretch — the Astros’ Wade Miley
to acute underperformance and
the Yankees’ Domingo G ermán to
a domestic violence suspension.
Then there were the immedi-
ate factors spawned by the events
of the past few days: Wednesday
night’s rainout in New Yo rk,
which counted among its casual-
ties Friday’s scheduled travel day;
the Yankees’ victory in Game 5 on
Friday night in the Bronx, which
kept the series alive; and the
desires of both teams to hold
their aces, Cole and Luis Severi-
no, in reserve for a potential
Game 7.
And so, Game 6 began at
7:09 p.m. Houston time with
Peacock, who had closed outGame 5 for the Astros, on the
mound, thus making him the
first pitcher s ince F irpo M arberry
of the 1924 Washington Senators
to start a playoff game the day
after finishing one.
In a game such as this, the
managers are bound to have a
larger say in the outcome than is
typical. New Yo rk’s Aaron Boone
and Houston’s A.J. Hinch se-
quenced their pitching with a
fluid combination of scripted
preferences and on-the-fly reac-
tion. The Astros suffered a set-
back in the top of the third when
Ryan Pressley, at his best a high-
leverage monster with an unhit-
table curveball, suffered a knee
injury while fielding a comeback-
er that stranded the bases l oaded.
The Astros chose to go without
a lefty on their staff for this
series, owing to the overwhelm-
ing right-handedness of the Yan-
kees’ lineup, and Jose Urquidy’s
excellent change-up, which
helped him hold lefties to a .530
on-base-plus-slugging percent-
age this season, was one reason.
It was Urquidy who in the sixth
inning was saved by Reddick’s
diving catch in right on a liner by
Brett Gardner, a left-handed hit-
ter.
From there, Hinch could de-
ploy his best arms in a more or
less conventional manner — Will
Harris for four outs, Joe Smith for
three. In t he ninth, he had Osuna,
an elite c loser, w armed and ready
to go. But Yankees third baseman
Gio Urshela greeted him with a
sharp single, and two batters
later, LeMahieu weeded through
nine other pitches until he found
one, a 94-mph cutter, he could
drive to right.
A hundred years ago, the Yan-
kees reached the end of the 1910s
without a World Series appear-
ance. On Dec. 26, 191 9, they
purchased a spindly legged pitch-
er-turned-outfielder named Babe
Ruth for $100,000 from the Bos-
ton Red Sox, won three champi-
onships behind him in the 1920s
and never again endured a dec-
ade without a t least getting to the
final series — until the decade
that comes to a close later this
month.
Over the course of a 103-win
season, the Yankees rarely came
up against a team that was better.
But over six games in this ALCS,
it became clear that they had — if
only by the smallest of margins, a
single Altuve.
[email protected]Astros hold o≠ Yankees, advance to face Nationals for title
SUE OGROCKI/ASSOCIATED PRESSWhen Hampton landed in the
end zone again after a seven-yard
run, after he carried his team the
whole way, his teammates picked
him up.
“The call w as power,” Hampton
said in a postgame interview in-
terrupted twice by teammates
calling “Jalen!” as they requested
his presence in a team photo.
“Everything s tarted slowing down
for me. I was able to see the holes
and where I was supposed to go.”
After four straight wins, Prep i s
in position to defend its IAC title
— unless somebody finds an an-
swer for Hampton over its final
three games.
Power and counter, Hampton
said, are Prep’s bread and butter.
Anybody wishing to slow down
the Little Hoyas can just try to
stop them.
“Throwing the ball isn’t what
we’re doing a lot right now,” said
Paro, who crafted the game plan.
“Every once in a while you get
someone special, and [Hampton
is] special. We’re really proud of
him.”
[email protected]duced seven yards. This was no
secret: The Little Hoyas were go-
ing as far as Hampton took them,
and his second touchdown with 91
seconds left t ook them to a victory.
Who is this Prep team now? “A
team that has p ride and that never
gives u p,” Hampton said.
After a scoreless first half,
Landon (4-2, 1-1) broke the stale-
mate with a five-play, 70-yard
drive to open the third quarter.
When Prep (5-2, 2-0) took posses-
sion early in the fourth quarter
still trailing 7-0, Hampton kept
chipping away.
Hampton ran to the right for
four yards. He ran left for four
more. He went up the middle for
15, 11 and 12. Left again for seven.
Down the left sideline for 12, into
the end zone, his seventh run on 11
snaps.
After Landon went three-and-
out, Hampton bruised the Bears’
defense again with five carries
over six plays, including a 47-yard
jaunt. He c ut outside, then inside,
then back outside. “We just wore
down a little bit,” Landon Coach
Paul Padalino said.BY JAKE LOURIMCoach Dan Paro gathered his
Georgetown Prep football team,
the rivalry trophy in its posses-
sion, and began to rehash Satur-
day’s game at Landon. Two claps
for running back Jalen Hampton.
Clap, clap. Two claps for the
defense. C lap, clap.
Then Paro looked into the hud-
dle and said, “We are who we are.”
And after a pivotal win over the
rival Bears, the Little Hoyas might
be Interstate Athletic Conference
champions b y season’s e nd.
No. 14 Georgetown Prep’s 14-7
victory against No. 16 Landon in
Bethesda on Saturday was not
much more complicated than the
Little Hoyas maintaining their
identity. Excluding two kneel-
downs, Prep ran 54 plays; Hamp-
ton carried on 35 of them. He p iled
up 263 yards and two touch-
downs. The other 19 snaps pro-INTERSTATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE FOOTBALLHampton carries Little Hoyas to win
G’TOWN PREP 14,
LANDON 7BY SCOTT ALLENAs he descended the steps
outside the first base gate at
Nationals Park on Tuesday, John
Loughney saw a TV reporter
preparing to interview elated
fans and couldn’t resist the cam-
era.
“I thought I was going to be in
the background, being the obnox-
ious guy that y ou s ee on the n ews,”
Loughney, a 38-year-old actor,
said in a phone interview Thurs-
day. “All of a sudden, the lights
popped on, and we were live.”
NBC Washington’s To mmy
McFly turned to Loughney, who
was dancing among a group of
red-clad revelers after the Na-
tionals clinched the city’s first
World Series berth since 1933,
and asked how long he had been
a fan. Loughney considered the
question for a moment and
leaned into the microphone.
“Since today,” he replied, be-
fore breaking into laughter.
Loughney wasn’t playing a
part. He had attended a few
Nationals games since moving to
the District in 2004 but mostly to
socialize. None of them were
nearly as exciting as the National
League Championship Series-
cli nching win, which marked the
first time he had sat through a
game in its entirety.
“The energy was like nothing
I’ve ever experienced in D.C.,”
said Loughney, who grew up
outside Scranton, Pa., and was
never a sports fan. “It was infec-
tious, so everyone there was just
going absolutely insane. I haven’t
seen D.C. like that. It can be a
little staunch. It can be a little
uptight. It was nice to see people
be able to let loose.”
Loughney went to the game
with his boyfriend, who is a huge
Nationals fan, and two other
friends.
“We had tickets 15 rows behindhome base, with drink and food
included,” Loughney said. “I had
to ask a bunch of times: Why is he
walking? What are the rules? I
didn’t understand everything.”
But he was having a great time,
so in the seventh inning, when
his boyfriend left the game to
check on his sick dog, Loughney
stuck around. If not for both of
those decisions, he wouldn’t have
become the star of a viral video
clip that has been viewed 1.2
million times on Twitter as of
Saturday evening.
“There’s no way I would’ve
been on camera if he had stayed,”
said Loughney, whose profes-
sional accomplishments include
a Helen Hayes Award nomina-
tion for his performance in the
Keegan Theatre’s production of
“The Full Monty.” “He would’ve
ripped me away because he
knows I would’ve embarrassed
myself. I was having the time of
my life.”Two minutes after Loughney’s
brief interview with McFly, a
friend messaged Loughney on
Facebook to say that he had
watched it live and predicted it
would go viral. Sure enough, by
the time Loughney arrived at his
Navy Yard residence, a HuffPost
reporter had tweeted the clip,
and it began making the rounds.
Loughney’s truthful, two-word
answer to McFly’s question was
featured on Wednesday’s episode
of ESPN’s “Around the Horn.”
“We should all strive to be as
honest as this dude,” Golf Digest
opined.
“I’ve watched it seven times
and it brings me pure joy,” NBC
News chief White House corre-
spondent Hallie Jackson tweeted.
Others predictably suggested
the clip reflected poorly on D.C.
and the Nationals’ fan base, as if
there aren’t people who have
been following the team since it
arrived in 2005 and everyonewho didn’t — or who adopted the
Nationals after moving to the
District — is somehow less of a
fan. NBC News analyst Howard
Fineman tweeted the video of
Loughney’s interview and pro-
claimed, “ This, ladies and gentle-
men, is why America hates its
own capital.”
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God; what
did I do?’ ” Loughney said. “I was
honestly just having a good night,
and that was the first thing that
came out of my m outh. People are
very passionate about their Nats
and sports in general, so I’ve
heard a lot, but whatever. It
didn’t matter when you were
there in the stadium.”
Loughney said his two sports-
loving brothers are getting a kick
out of his viral fame. A friend
suggested he sell “Since To day”
T-shirts outside Nationals Park
during the World Series. Yes,
Loughney is aware the Nationals
are in the World Series, and hesaid he will “100 percent” f ollow
the rest of their playoff run.
“A t this point, why wouldn’t I ?”
he said. “It’s very exciting to be
such a small p art of it. I think [the
video] has actually made a lot of
people laugh. It was a culmina-
tion of a great night, and for the
most part, Nats fans are over-
whelmingly nice.”
For a Nationals newbie,
Loughney is a quick study. He
already can name three players.
Well, 2^1 / 2.
“There’s Howie... Kendrick,”
Loughney said with a laugh. “I
heard he did something big in
some game, so I heard his name a
lot. I don’t know what he did.
Then there was Scherzer. And
Trea something.... But if there’s
anything I’ve learned about being
a true Nats fan, it’s that you’re
supposed to say, ‘Bryce who?’ I’ve
been a fan for two days, and that
much I’ve learned.”
[email protected]Nationals fan ‘since today’ goes viral, becomes face of World Series bandwagon
MATT SLOCUM/ASSOCIATED PRESSWalk off, party on: The Astros
won the American League
pennant for the second time in
three seasons thanks to José
Altuve’s game-ending home run
against Yankees reliever
Aroldis Chapman. Houston
won the ALCS in six games.