It was the one that got away - almost.

McLean had used the option offense nearly perfectly for more than three quarters in Friday night's 35-7 victory at Wakefield, baffling the Warriors defense on fake handoffs that led to 40- and 52-yard touchdown scrambles by Highlanders senior quarterback Justin Cotter.

And with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter, as Cotter rounded the corner and sprinted along the open sideline after another fake handoff, it looked as if the McLean (2-0) quarterback was well on his way to a hat trick.

Until the whistles blew behind him.

Fooled by the fake handoff, the referee positioned behind the Highlanders offense whistled the down over when he saw a host of Wakefield (0-2) defenders tackle McLean junior fullback John Andrews at the line of scrimmage.

But Andrews didn't have the ball. Cotter did. And as confusion reigned behind him, the quarterback ran the rest of the 58 yards to the end zone - what would have been his longest carry of the night.

``I saw the end zone and I decided to get in it," said Cotter, who led his team in rushing with 185 yards on 15 carries. ``I knew there was something wrong, but I decided to just keep on going."

The reversal of the touchdown run only hurt Cotter's stats, not his team's scoring.

On the very next play, with the ball moved up to the Wakefield 40 yard line - the place Cotter was when the first whistle blew - McLean senior running back Lisochettra Neou broke open a touchdown run to cap the 35-7 score with 1:43 remaining.

The Highlanders' other touchdown came in the second quarter on a Wakefield fumble recovered in the end zone by McLean senior defensive lineman David Goodsell.

``The score doesn't reflect the caliber of [Wakefield's] team," said Cotter, who went 3-of-5 in passing for 23 yards with no interceptions. ``They really put it to us. We never felt comfortable the whole time."

A big reason for this was the speed of the Warriors offense.

Wakefield's corps of backs - junior quarterback John Garner, junior running back Chris Edmonds and senior fullback David Gilbert - was able to sprint out big plays when a hole was found, while Warriors junior wide receiver Deidrick Gilreath had a speed and height advantage on McLean's cornerbacks.

Unfortunately for the Warriors - who often started drives near their own end zone thanks to great kicking by McLean's Jonathan Kendall - Gilreath was unable to hang on to a majority of the long passes he got from Garner.

But the wide receiver did make sure to haul in a 38-yard touchdown reception with 1:33 left before halftime, cutting McLean's lead to 21-7 and giving Wakefield a new hope.

``We thought we were going to come back, because at halftime we went off on a good note," said Garner, who went 5-of-15 passing for 55 yards and one interception, and ran for 9 total yards on 16 carries. ``But then we came out the second half flat.

``If we would have just caught the ball and not made mistakes, we probably would have won the game."