Thomas Jefferson Spoils John Marshall Homecoming With 29-0 Shutout!

On a warm Saturday afternoon Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall clashed with winning records for the first time since 1986. The site was Huguenot where John Marshall is playing all their homes games and while the fans were a little late to the party, by the time the game reached its end the stands were full.

Huguenot legend Coach McFee was on hand as was former Atlee Coach Roscoe Johnson. Also in attendance was Mayor Stoney. All came to see a big city matchup on John Marshall's homecoming.

What they got was a shutout victory by Thomas Jefferson over John Marshall.

A sluggish first quarter with no score, the Vikings came to life in the second quarter after Coach PJ Adams could be heard telling them to wake up for all of the first quarter and much of the second. Message received, the Vikings woke up, they scored and never looked back.

The Justices did not go away easily, they made plays, they had hard hits but penalties hurt the Justices as much as the inability to capitalize on early turnovers.

No onslaught of points like most Thomas Jefferson games this season, it was just what one would expect in a rivalry game with the teams battling all the way.

In the first quarter both teams had the ball twice although the Justices second possession carried over into the second quarter. Thomas Jefferson had early opportunities but could not capitalize.

On their first possession of the day TJ moved the ball 60 yards to the 9 of John Marshall but fumbled on 3rd & goal with John Marshall's Linwood Miller recovering the loose ball.

Sandwiched between TJ's two possessions was a promising Justice drive but turnovers were the theme of this game and theme of this possession. Quarterback Aarek Thomas fumbled on 1st & 5 after a penalty was assessed against TJ. Shackoy 'Rampage' Fearon of TJ was in on the tackle. John Marshall could not overcome the setback with a loss of 8 yards and ultimately punted.

When TJ got the ball back although they were moving the ball, they nearly gave the ball to the Justices twice. A Jaylen Tyler pass was nearly intercepted by Oliver Basnight but he could not hold onto the interception. A few plays later Thomas Jefferson fumbled but they were able to recover it. Tempers flared as John Marshall's Jordan Smith and TJ's Shackory 'Rampage' Fearon got into it on the field. That followed a hard hit on Shamar Graham from Antoine Carroll on the TJ sideline.

John Marshall had the ball as we navigated into the second quarter and Shackoy 'Rampage' Fearon dropped a sure fire interception on 3rd & 2 but John Marshall turned the ball over on downs unable to move it any further.

Credit the John Marshall defense for holding the Vikings to a 3 & out putting the ball back in their hands, a good start to the second quarter for the underdog on their own homecoming. Aaerk Thomas hit Linwood Miller with a shovel pass for 8 yards and followed that up with a pass to Oliver Basnight as the Justices seemed to be putting it altogether. A penalty against John Marshall set them back 12 yards and they could not overcome except for 2 yards.

TJ got the ball back and from the 31 a pitch from Jaylen Tyler to Jaden Vaughn made for a 69 yard touchdown for the Vikings as they broke the scoreless game open.

John Marshall moved the ball in three plays within a yard of the first down but a holding call against John Marshall squashed the Justices potential. John Marshall would punt but they would not be without the ball long.

Oliver Basnight who almost had an interception earlier against Jaylen Tyler delivered with one on a second down pass. That put the ball back in John Marshall's hands but not for long. On the first play the Justices fumbled but recovered. On the 2nd play Aarek Thomas hit Linwood Miller with a pass but after making the catch and completing the process he was hit, fumbled the ball and TJ's Jayden Tyler recovered.

Three plays is all it took for Jaylen Tyler to hit Jaylen Jones with a 65-yard pass for a touchdown and although the PAT was blocked, the Vikings had a 13-0 lead with 2:47 left in the half.

To make matters worse for John Marshall, the ball was fumbled on the return and TJ got the ball back. TJ could not take advantage of the opportunity like previous turnovers and John Marshall would have the ball once more before halftime. Any hopes of getting a score before the half however were extinguished by three straight penalties. That is how the half ended... with the Justices unable to get out of their own way.

The third quarter did not start the way the Justices would have preferred. On the very first play the Justices fumbled but were able to recover. What they could not recover from was a Delonte' Washington interception of Aarek Thomas.

With good field position it did not take long for the Vikings to score again. Jaylen Tyler left the game with an apparent injury to his hand(he would ultimately return) on a second down pass. The Vikings could not penetrate the end zone but they were able to split the uprights for a field goal that made it 16-6.

When John Marshall got the ball back they got the first down out to the 48 but for every step forward the Justices would take multiple steps back. Going backwards instead of forwards the Justices would have to punt.

In fact the two teams would exchange punts. When John Marshall did have the ball back they again were going backwards with plays busted and more penalties.

Thomas Jefferson on the other hand was being helped by those multiple John Marshall penalties including an offsides call against the Justices with TJ back on offense. 1st & 5 from their own 32, TJ's Jaylen Tyler hit Jacobi Harrison with a 68 yard pass off to the end zone. Just like that TJ had increased their lead to 23-0 with the PAT.

John Marshall had the ball as we crossed over into the fourth quarter. Multiple plays resulting in first downs had the Justice fans believing the Justices would finally get some points on the board. However with the Justices facing a 3rd & 1 they could not convert on two plays and had to turn the ball over on downs.

Thomas Jefferson appeared to be in a position they might turn the ball over on downs themselves as a third down pass on 3rd & 3 was incomplete but the Vikings went for it on fourth down and it paid off with Shamar Graham busting off a run of 15 yards down to the 28. Jaylen Tyler then hit Jones with a pass of 13 yards but the Justices never got any closer. The Vikings were hit with a penalty, Shamar Graham was hit with a loss of 3 and the Vikings ultimately had to punt.

John Marshall got the ball back but as we saw time and time again in this one, it would not be for long. On first down Aaerk Thomas put it in the air, the ball was tipped by Sincere Williams and intercepted.

Thomas Jefferson made quick work with 2 plays with the ball at the 10, Graham finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown run. The PAT proved to be no good but the lead was now TJ 29-0.

John Marshall had one last shot at getting points on the board and thanks to a pass interference call against TJ the Justices had a fresh set of downs. Aaerk Thomas however went backwards on a keeper but then hit Armardi Johnson with a 5-yard pass to making it a 3rd & 8. Thomas' next pass fell incomplete and that is how the day would end for John Marshall... with another punt.

Thomas Jefferson would get the ball back but take a knee to run out the clock spoiling the Justices homecoming while improving to 5-1 on the season.

I am going to give two nods to the Justices...

Aarek Thomas I have completing 16 of 26 for 104 yards... only thing he did not have was the touchdown to go with it but an interception does hurt. The player who stood out for me though was Linwood Miller who seemed to be all over the field. Linwood I have catching 5 passes from Thomas for 30 yards but he also had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery.

On the TJ side of things you got to give it up to Jaylen Tyler with what I have as 255 total yards, 231 of that through the air completing 7 of 14 for 2 touchdowns despite an interception.

Also Shackoy 'Rampage' Fearon had a nice game on defense with 8 tackles and a dropped interception. He truly was on the rampage against the Justices'.

This was the first shutout in the series since 2011 when TJ was shutout 48-0.

This was the first TJ shutout of John Marshall since 2003 when TJ won 24-0.

This was the 32nd shutout in the history of the series.

The 29-point win was the largest margin of victory for TJ in the series since 1971 when they won by 31.