2011-12 Sports Year in Review: Part 2

This is the second of a 4-part series as Viva Loudoun editor Dan Sousa takes a look at the 2011-12 high school sports year in Loudoun


Fall 2011: Briar Woods Repeats Cheer, Football State Titles; Loudoun County Girls Volleyball Falls Just Shy of 5th Straight Title; and Much More!
Golf

Dominion junior Sam Stillwell already had a memorable season after helping the Titans claim the school’s first ever Dulles District regular-season title but then Stillwell put himself in the history books by shocking the field with a second-day 66 to erase a five-stroke deficit and take the AA state title.

Loudoun Valley’s Ian Hildebrand, who won the Dulles District individual title, finished seventh in the AA state tournament.

While Loudoun didn’t send any full teams to the AA tournament, they did qualify five individuals out of the Region II tournament with Ryan Douglass of Heritage and Hildebrand shooting 72 to finish one stroke out of the lead. Stillwell, teammate Erik Dulik and Briar Woods’ Adam Ochs also qualified for States.

Dominion may have took the regular-season Dulles title, but it was Briar Woods celebrating the tournament title at 1757 Club in Ashburn as the Falcons shot a 324 to win the school’s third district golf tournament title and first since 2007. Hildrebrand’s 73 left him low medalist.

At the AAA level, Broad Run qualified for a regional tournament for the first time in school history as the Spartans finished runner-up in the Cedar Run District and then took 6^th at the Northwest Region tournament.

Stone Bridge’s Matt Ashley shot a two-day total of 155 to tie for 9^th in the Northern Region and qualify for the AAA state tournament.

Competitive Cheer

Briar Woods followed up Dulles District and Region II titles with a commanding performance at the VHSL AA state competitive cheer meet to win a third straight state championship. The Falcons scored 259 points on their final routine to finish 14 points ahead of runner-up Tabb.

Loudoun County had its best ever competitive cheer season, staying on the heels of Briar Woods all the way to the state tournament where the Raiders were unable to advance to the finals.

Briar Woods’s 3-peat matches Stone Bridge’s three-year run from 2004-06. Stone Bridge, looking for a fifth state title, made it to the AAA state meet but the Bulldogs did not advance to the finals. Stone Bridge was runner-up at the Northern Region meet to Fairfax.

The Falcons three year run has included three straight Region II and Dulles District titles. Loudoun County was fourth at Regionals.

Freedom and Broad Run made it to the Northwest Region meet, taking fifth and sixth, respectively.

At the Dulles District meet, Dominion and Woodgrove claimed the third and fourth spots behind Briar Woods and Loudoun County.

Broad Run came as close as you can get to taking the Cedar Run District title as the Spartans lost out to Battlefield by a half-point on a tiebreaker, 379 to 379.5.

Cross Country

The biggest news for the country season may have come in the Dulles District meet as the Loudoun County boys finally ended Potomac Falls’ mind-boggling 10-year title run. The Panthers had won every Dulles title since the district formed in 2001 but settled for the runner-up spot in 2011 behind the powerful Raiders.

Loudoun County junior Patrick Joseph, who won both the 800 and 1600 meters state titles in the spring, was clearly just getting warmed up in the fall as he took third at the AA state cross country meet with a 15:49 to finish two seconds out of second.

Joseph’s high finish helped the Raiders take fourth overall in the team race.

Woodgrove’s Evan McCarthy wrapped up his cross country prep career with a 16:18 for 13^th place. Loudoun County senior Josh Showalter ran 16:47 for 31^st. Potomac Falls, making states once again, was led by senior Stephen Cathey with a 16:57, good for 47^th place.

At the girls AA state meet, Potomac Falls, led by sophomore Sarah Dilistin’s 13^th overall individual finish at 19:19, took sixth as a team. Woodgrove was seventh and Heritage 11^th.

Tuscarora junior Natalie Rosas was 20^th overall with a 19:32. Woodgrove senior Audrey Houghton finished her XC career with a 19:46 for 24^th. Houghton’s teammate Lydia Cromwell was 30^th at 19:54. Another senior finishing up a fine high school career was Loudoun County’s Kathryn Eder with a 19:56 for 33^rd. Potomac Falls junior MacKenzie Barclay was 46^th at 20:14, and her senior teammate Kaeley Brady was 69^th at 20:37. Heritage was led by junior Leila Kouame with a 71^st finish and 20:37 time.

At the AAA level, Freedom sophomore Siobhan O’Toole and senior Thorpe Lichtenberg qualified for the AAA state meet out of the Northwest Region. Stone Bridge boys were sixth at the Northern Region meet with Brady Guertin qualifying for States with a 10^th place finish at 15:37.

The Loudoun County boys, with Joseph (16:01) taking second, were runner-up at the Region II meet and Potomac Falls claimed fourth to advance to States.

The Potomac Falls girls won the Region II title, becoming the first local team to accomplish that feat since the Panthers did it in 2000. Sarah Dillistin ran a 19:21 to take second. It was a scrum for the final two State spots as Woodgrove (121) and Heritage (124) edged Warren County (125) and Western Albemarle (129). It was the first time that Loudoun had ever claimed three of the top four Region II spots in a girls or boys cross country meet.

Joseph led the Raiders in their Dulles District title quest with a 16:27 first place finish on the Oatlands course. The Potomac Falls girls, with Dillistin running a 19:24 for the win, won their fourth Dulles title in five years and sixth title since 2002.

While Woodgrove and Heritage took second and third at the Dulles girls meet, it was the battle for the fourth and final Regional spot that had everybody’s attention as Tuscarora (106) edged Briar Woods (107) and Dominion (108) in one of the closest finishes ever.

Football

The 2011 football season had such great rivalries that Twitter was filled with #BattleOfTheBurn, #BattleOfTheBurg and #BattleForTheVille passionate chatter.

Battle of the Burn as in Battle of Ashburn featured three programs with state title resumes in Briar Woods (2010 and 2011), Broad Run (2008 and 2009) and Stone Bridge (2007).  Fans were not disappointed as the talented trio put on two rocking regular season games starting with Broad Run’s 14-0 win at Briar Woods that ruined the Falcons season-opener.

Briar Woods had defeated Broad Run twice the prior season en route to the school’s first state title but the Spartans, moving up to AAA in 2011, got some revenge in the non-district early September game with Spartan senior quarterback Connor Jessop throwing for a score and running one in.

The Falcons didn’t dwell on that loss as they proceeded to reel off 14 consecutive wins to claim a second straight Division 4 state title behind the play of senior DB/WR Alex Carter (Stanford recruit who played in the U.S. Army All American Bowl) and lineman Justin Baker (James Madison).

State titles don’t come easy and Briar Woods survived a scare as Christiansburg scored twice in the final 3:42 of the state title game but came up two points shy as Briar Woods won 28-26 after junior strong safety Mike Barta intercepted a two-point conversion pass that would have tied the game with 2:04 left and then junior Matt Rolin (South Carolina recruit) recovered an onsides kick to keep the ball out of the Blue Demons hands.

For the Briar Woods senior class they finished their football careers by winning 27 out of 30 contests and claiming back-to-back Dulles District, Region II and Division 4 state titles.

Falcon junior running back Cory Colder had a huge state title game with 186 yards rushing, sophomore Trace McSorely (27-3 as a two-year starter) threw for two touchdown passes and junior WR Darryl Gadsden made some clutch grabs.

“The bulls-eye was on these young men’s back the entire year … this is a sweet state championship,” said Briar Woods coach Charlie Pierce, who started the Falcons program in 2005.

After that opening loss to Broad Run, Briar Woods averaged more than 45 points a game in the regular season while allowing just a total of 33 points total in the nine wins. The Falcons didn’t slow down in the playoffs as Park View (49-21), Loudoun County (29-19), Powhatan (21-7) and Grafton (31-0) all went down.

Even with the state title run for Briar Woods the most talked about game of 2011 was arguably the other half of the Battle of the Burn as Broad Run and Stone Bridge renewed their rivalry for the first time since 2004 and a standing room only crowd at Stone Bridge was treated a thrilling comeback for the ages as the Bulldogs erased a 24-0 first half deficit against Broad Run to win it 31-30 in overtime.

Jessop and Broad Run starred in the first half of the roller coaster game, throwing for 120 yards and two scores, but Stone Bridge, which hadn’t lost to a Loudoun team at home since 2002, battled back after a third quarter goal line stand where defensive standout Jon Allen and the Bulldogs held Broad Run at the 1-yard line on four straight running plays while trailing 24-0.

Pumped up by the defensive stand, Stone Bridge, behind running back Stephen Trivieri, went 99 yard and the comeback was on as the Bulldogs scored three straight touchdowns –and three straight 2-point conversions – to send the game into overtime.

Broad Run scored first in OT but missed their point after and Trivieri’s third TD of the night tied the game and the Ben Lambourne’s PAT kick sent the Stone Bridge student section rushing onto the field in celebration.

Broad Run (8-3) and Stone Bridge (10-2) both advanced to the regional playoffs with Stone Bridge winning its seventh straight Liberty District title behind Trivieri and Allen who were named the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year for the district and Broad Run finishing in a 3-way tie for the Cedar Run District title. Both teams had their seasons end in the regional semifinals.

As exciting as Ashburn football was, the area didn’t have the market cornered on exciting rivalries as the Battle of the Burg saw all three Leesburg teams make the playoffs in 2011 with Heritage, behind quarterback Austin Nelson and playmaker Macus Finney, making the postseason for the first time since the school opened in 2002, Loudoun County continuing its rise to a playoff contender and second-year Tuscarora not only making the Division 3 playoffs but the Huskies beat Warren County 28-21 in the opening round before falling to Kettle Run in the regional semifinals.

The Leesburg teams battled each other in the regular season and in the postseason as Loudoun County hosted Heritage in the Division 4 Region II first round. The Raiders (9-3) beat the Pride (7-4), 42-14, behind Antonio Rutherford’s 207 combined rushing and receiving yards, and then gave the Falcons fits the next week before falling in the regional semifinals.

Tuscarora (9-3) was led by running back Cameron Molina, with three fourth quarter touchdowns, in their comeback playoff win, the first in the young school’s history.

Despite a 4-7 finish, Park View not only made the playoffs but the Patriots were an entertaining team to watch thanks to the combo of quarterback Alec Dombkowski and WR Ryan McCarter.

While Loudoun Valley and Woodgrove may have not made the playoffs in 2011, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t drama out in Purcellville in the Battle for the Ville. Far from it, as the second-year Wolverines shocked the Vikings in the final game of the regular-season with a touchdown in the final minute before 4,000 fans at Woodgrove.

Woodgrove junior running back Atem Ntantang rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns including the go-ahead score which came after Valley fumbled the ball while trying to run the clock out. Woodgrove senior Caleb Welsh came up with the strip and fumble recovery, returning the ball 40 yards to the Viking 5 to set up the game-winning TD by Ntantang that helped Woodgrove avenge a 51-0 defeat from their opening year against their big brother rivals Loudoun Valley.

Dulles District honors went to Heritage’s Nelson and Briar Woods’ Carter as Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in Division 4 and to Tuscarora’s Molina and Chris Holoman as D3 Players of the Year.

Volleyball

Honors continue to stream the way of Loudoun’s talented volleyball programs as Freedom’s Jim Clarke was named the Virginia High School Coaches Association AAA Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to Cedar Run District and Northwestern Regional titles and at trip to the AAA state tournament.

At Loudoun County, Jenica Matthias was named the Virginia Coach of the Year for 2010-11 as well as the Mideast Coach of the Year for guiding her program to six consecutive Final Four’s. The Raiders came up just short of a historic fifth straight AA state title, falling to Cave Spring in the semifinals in November.

And Northern Region Player of the Year Ryan Ackermann and defensive standout Sarah Fairchild led Stone Bridge on another deep AAA playoff run, a 20-game match winning streak that ended in the state semifinals.

Loudoun County had won 13 consecutive state games, dating back to a 2006 state final loss to Cave Spring. The Raiders 5-year run stands at an incredible 133-7 mark including five Dulles District and Region II titles. The Raiders finished the year 27-2 behind the play of Jenna Strange, Jordan Leiter, Taylor Huewe, Katrina Kirby, Maggie Phillips and Gabby Serafin.

Kaitlyn LaMantia, named the Northwest Region Player of the Year, helped the Eagles on their postseason run along with other all region first teamers Jasmine Jackson and Andrea Phung. The Eagles finished a school-record 22-6. Broad Run, led by Mallory Brickerd, also had a good first year at the AAA level, going 20-6, finishing just one game behind Freedom in the Cedar Run District race.

Stone Bridge, meanwhile, had racked up more wins than any of the other program in 2011, going 28-3, winning the Liberty District title, and then Northern Region championship before falling to a Kellam team for the second straight season. In 2010 Kellam beat Stone Bridge in the AAA state finals and in 2011 it was Kellam again beating the Bulldogs, this time in the AAA state semifinals.

Ackermann had 16 kills and setter Kristen Jones had 26 assists as the Bulldogs defended their regional title with a win over Woodson. Stone Bridge rolled into the state’s Final Four having dropped just one set in the previous 15 matches before being swept by Kellam.

Loudoun County’s Strange was named the Region II Player of the Year as the Raiders won their sixth straight regional title, and Heritage setter Stephanie Yokoyama and Raider Libero defensive specialist Serafin and Kirby were also first team .

Potomac Falls (15-11) came into the season without a regional win in a decade but the Panthers won two Region II games on the road to make the semifinals. The Panthers fell shy of a state bid with a loss to Western Albemarle in the regional semifianls.

Broad Run’s Brickerd was named the Cedar Run District Player of the Year and Heritage’s Yokoyama picked up Dulles District Player of the Year honors.