Nearly four quarters of play had been completed, just under 48 minutes of football had been played and 56 total points had been scored by the time the Atoms’ field goal unit took the field for the final play of the game. At that time, however, each and every play beforehand became irrelevant. It all came down to one kick, and when it mattered most, senior Mo Osman came through.

“I was pretty nervous, but I thought about how hard everybody had worked, and I just put my head down and did my job,” Osman said.

As time expired in the varsity football game against J.E.B. Stuart on Sept. 16, Osman delivered with a 32-yard field goal to secure the victory for the Atoms.

“I was pretty happy, to see that all of my team’s hard work didn’t go to waste,” Osman said of the game-winning kick.

The kick, which gave the Atoms their first win of the season, was an energizing end to a game marked by lead changes.

After the Atoms fell behind early in the first quarter, they pulled even at 7-7 with a 4-yard touchdown run from senior Tony Hysjulien. The score came with only 41 seconds remaining in the first quarter, not long after the Atoms kept their drive alive on a fourth and six conversion by Hysjulien.

The Atoms then took the lead at the end of the second quarter on a 22-yard pass from Hysjulien to junior Jack Johnson. The touchdown came with only 14 seconds remaining in the half, propelling the Atoms into the third quarter.

This momentum failed to serve the Atoms, however, as their defense surrendered two third quarter touchdowns to the Raiders, falling behind 20-14 following a failed point after attempt by J.E.B.

Although these two scores tested the Atoms, the team refused to surrender and continued to battle on both offense and defense.

“We played hard and we never gave up no matter what happened,” Hysjulien said. “We just never got down. We looked to the next drive and we just played as hard as we could until the final whistle.”

This fight was clearly seen in the fourth quarter, when the Atoms responded with two touchdowns of their own, on 4 and 5-yard runs from Hysjulien and Johnson. In addition to two scores each, Hysjulien and Johnson combined for 180 rushing yards. Senior Ahmad Haj-assaad and junior Marcus Walton rounded out the offense for the Atoms, combining for 92 yards on 21 carries.

“As a team, we played more aggressively, especially on offense,” Haj-assaad said. “It was the first time our offense really moved the ball.”

Despite their success on offense, the Atoms were challenged by the Raiders, who added a touchdown with 4:58 remaining in the fourth quarter. After a successful two-point conversion, the team was stunned to see its lead dissolve in to a 28-28 tie.

Still, the team refused to give up, engineering a game-winning drive that ended in Osman’s 32-yard field goal.

“We played as a team; we wanted to win way more [than we have in the past],” Osman said. “The coaches always say ‘you gotta want it,’ and we wanted it more.”

Haj-assaad also saw the team come together in the late win against J.E.B.

“I think we actually played as one team for the first time. In our first two games, our chemistry wasn’t very good,” he said. “We bonded as a team because of the hard week of practices we had.”

Despite the improvements the team has made, however, it still must overcome its 0-2 start if it hopes to finish atop the Patriot District.

“We played a really good Stuart team, and if we can continue to play that way, we can win future games,” Head Coach Mike Scott said.

Should the Atoms rebound from their slow start and continue to improve, they could defy expectations by bouncing back from their 0-2 start in the same manner as the District Champion teams of 2005 and 2006.

“They did it, so we can do it too,” Haj-assaad said.