At this point, just having a second win under their belt would be a victory in itself.

The Brentsville District Tigers' troubles continued last Friday night when visiting Warren County broke up a tied affair in the second quarter by scoring 21 unanswered points to give the Wildcats a 28-7 win.

"It's all the same," said BDHS coach Dean Reedy. "If we go back to the first week with Kettle Run, we played the second half, you know? And we haven't been playing in the second half like we have in the first half."

Adding insult to defeat, homecoming has become an annual malaise for the proud but battered Tigers (1-7 overall). Losses in 2007 to James Wood (35-0), 2008 to Skyline (26-7), and 2009 to Millbrook (41-20) mean that none of the current four-year students at Brentsville has witnessed the Tigers win at the annual event since entering high school.

Brentsville tied the game at 7-7 when running back David Hammond broke through the middle of the Wildcats' front line and scampered 16 yards to paydirt with 8:55 remaining on the clock in the first half. His run followed backfield teammate Andre Martin's 27-yard rush on a third-and-2 conversation the prior play. Wally Covington successfully booted the extra point.

"With our running play up the middle, we just kept beating them down and then just misdirection play got them," said quarterback KC Willard. "And we substituted the Hardwicks (Daniel and Alex) in just for extra blocking and the hole just opened up and he made a move."

However, the Wildcats took the lead for good with just over 3 minutes into the second quarter. Starting at his team's own 44 yard line, quarterback Tyler Post launched a bootleg bomb down the Brentsville sideline toward the south end of the field to wide receiver Jeremy Vogt. The senior target leapt and beat his falling defender inside the 20 yard line, allowing him to turn and head to the end zone uncontested for the score.

That score came on the first play from scrimmage too after Warren County recovered a squib kick following Brentsville's touchdown.

After that, Warren County's rushing game simply dominated.

Junior running back Gage Steele, who scored on WC's second play in the first quarter on 34-yard toss, one-upped his earlier task by taking a handoff from Post on the first play of the third quarter and bulldozing his way to the northern end zone. He threw a stiff-arm near the Brentsville 10-yard line to fend off a would-be tackler before cutting back inside toward the goal line to give the visiting team some breathing room on the scoreboard.

The touchdown also undercut whatever momentum Brentsville might have wanted to start the second half.

"He's just a powerful back. He's an amazing person to run the ball," said Post about Gage. "He breaks the tackles and then he gives us speed."

Post said that style of play, using quickness and power down the sidelines, fit exactly what Warren County wanted to do offensively from the get-go.

"Our game plan was to get outside on them and that's what we were able to do; use our speed around the outside," said Post.

Gage struck one more time on a first-and-goal in the fourth quarter with a rush toward the Warren County sidelines on a first-and-goal play that gave the running back his third end zone trot of the day.

"We were outmanned," said Reedy as he thought back about the game as a whole. "Once we started adjusting (in order to) balance, that was the end of that. But two straight plays was all it took for them to find paydirt off of us not making recognition and adjustments."

Reedy said his team moved well off the ball in the second quarter during their scoring drive but faced an intensity gap against Warren County.

According to the Brentsville quarterback Willard, the Tigers wanted attempted to outlast the Wildcats.

"(We tried) just deceiving them, especially with the counter, thinking we're going one way, coming back, and just mostly being able to stay on our blocks and wearing them down," said second-year senior starter. "Because the whole point of that offense was to beat them down, wear them down, and we did that on that one drive. We just kept pounding it and pounding it and the hole just opened up."

Post said the Wildcats responded defensively by containing Brentsville's running game with gang tackling. He mentioned that the team "worked hard in practice this week, running their offense and doing their tight wings and stuff like that. And I think we did a good job today covering their sweeps."

For Willard and the other seniors, if they're going to end their Brentsville playing days with a bang, the last chance to do it at home will be Friday night -- senior night -- against Liberty. Brentsville closes the season right down the road against Evergreen district rival Kettle Run on Nov. 5.

"There's 23 of us that have been through a lot in the last two years, especially going after 0-10 last year and coming back out and everything we've had to deal with," said Willard, "we have glimpses where we can put it together and score points."

Even as an underdog, Willard sounded the note of an optimist.

"Anybody's beatable on Friday night," he said.