By Tommy Keeler Jr. -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — Elijah Washington's face was beaming as he walked over to the sidelines after Handley's first touchdown Saturday.

"It's going to be like this all day," he said as he headed for a water break.

Washington's prophecy didn't hold up the entire game, but the Judges scored enough in the opening quarter to pull off a 35-21 upset win over Harrisonburg at the Handley Bowl.

Harrisonburg is a perennial Division 4 playoff team and was thought in the preseason to be one of the top teams in the state. The Judges were happy to use the underdog role to their advantage.

"We've waited so long for this to happen," Handley junior Jeremiah Wilson said. "We shocked the world. Nobody believed in us, but the coaches and players believed in us. Nobody thought we could win, but we knew we could do it."

Handley caught its first break of the game before it even started. Harrisonburg senior tailback Alex Owah, who has already verbally committed to play at the University of Virginia next fall, did not dress for the game.

"It's a personnel matter. That's all I'll say about it," Harrisonburg coach Tim Sarver said.

The way Handley started the game, it probably wouldn't have mattered if Owah had played or not. After forcing a three-and-out, Handley senior Vance Washington took the Harrisonburg punt at the Judges' 48 and returned it to the 7-yard line.

One play later, Wilson, who finished with 164 yards on 26 carries, ran into the end zone to give the Judges a 7-0 lead with 10:12 left in the first quarter. On the Blue Streaks' next possession, Handley's Richard MacDonald intercepted a Jake Johnson pass and returned it 36 yards for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The Judges added to the lead on their next possession. Handley went 46 yards on six running plays to take a commanding 21-0 lead on a two-yard burst by junior quarterback Geremi Long with 3:24 left in the first quarter.

Handley ran for 259 yards in the game.

"Obviously we controlled the line of scrimmage," Handley coach Tony Rayburn said. "That was big for us. Jeremiah had a great game, but it wasn't just him. Leonard [Grant] had a great game. Timar [McFarlane] had a great game. Obviously that starts up front."

The Judges weren't done with their strong first quarter. Harrisonburg moved the ball on its next possession to the Handley 34. On fourth-and-1 from the Judges' 34, Handley stopped Todd Barksdale short of the first down and took over on downs with 1:38 left in the quarter.

Handley needed only three plays to score. Wilson ran 56 yards for the Judges' final touchdown of the opening quarter to give the team a 28-0 lead.

"I was surprised it was that easy ... well, it wasn't easy, we had to work hard to get it," Wilson said. "It was just our time to shine."

"The first quarter was the story of the game," Sarver said. "They came out fired up, and we didn't appear to be as fired up as we should've been."

Rayburn said a lot of the credit for getting the team ready before the game goes to assistant coach Jerry Putt, who gave the team a little pep talk.

"He just told us that it had been a few years since we had beaten Harrisonburg, and how nobody thinks we could beat Harrisonburg," Wilson said. "That got us fired up and ready to play."

Harrisonburg was able to score late in the first half to cut the lead to 28-7, but the Judges took the momentum right back to start the second half. Handley started with a 14-play, 66-yard drive, featuring 12 runs, to increase its lead. Wilson finished off the drive, which used up most of the third quarter, with a one-yard plunge for a 35-7 lead with 4:23 left of the third.

The Blue Streaks' DeSean Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards to cut the deficit to 35-14. Harrisonburg's Michael Atkinson connected with Taylor on a 69-yard touchdown pass early in the final quarter to arrive at the final score.

Grant finished with 67 yards on nine carries to help Handley's balanced offensive rushing attack.

The Judges lost 18 seniors from last year's team, including three-year starting quarterback J.J. Dorsey, and this year's squad feels like it has something to prove. To show a sign of unity this season, many of the Judges, including Wilson, are now sporting mohawks.

"We're not worried about our faces or how we look," Wilson said. "We just wanted to give a different approach to things this year. I urged a lot of the players to do it. It's something I've been wanting to do. I'm one of the captains now, so I just told the team about it after one of the practices.

"We want to show everyone we're not a one-man person this year. We're more of a team."

*Contact Tommy Keeler Jr. at tkeeler@nvdaily.com

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