Gameday Notebook: Northern Region Week 1
FAIRFAX, VA - So what's going on in the Concorde? Is it already time to push the panic button for several teams? Who knows. But with four Concorde teams losing their opening game to non-district opponents, a lot of teams right now have a lot more question marks than answers it seems. It's still very, very early at this point, so of course these teams will get better, but several Friday night scores were very surprising. Fairfax and Herndon both lost by a combined score of 7-72 while Oakton and Centreville were upset by Madison and West Potomac respectively.
But maybe me and the other fans out there might be getting a little too ahead of ourselves here. Madison and West Potomac are very competitive teams. Madison is annually in the Division 5 playoffs while West Potomac is fresh off of a co-district championship. Then you have to factor into the equation that Herndon and Fairfax were playing with brand new coaches, so a slow start should be expected. Or maybe that speaks volumes to the strength of the Concorde when losing to Madison and West Potomac are considered 'upsets.' Nevertheless, still a very interesting weekend out in the Concorde.
Proving a point
The top two preseason favorites for the Concorde district title both did a great job proving their worth. Probably most dominant--and surprising--was Westfield. They came out and put to sleep a very good South County team by the score of 45-6. South County is expected to challenge for a playoff berth and Patriot district title, so they are certainly no first week cupcake.
On the other side of the token, Chantilly did a great job of handling Langley. Langley has arguably one of the biggest lines in the region as they do every year, which makes them a dangerous team. In fact, Langley nearly beat Westfield last year, so that says just how tough that team can be. Yet the Chargers did a great job of handling Langley's horses up front as they came out with a sure-handed 35-13 victory.
Wildcat Nation Uneasy
Sitting among the Wildcat Nation last Friday night, one couldn't help but notice there is a lot of anxiety in the stands. With the offense failing to score in Centreville's 14-9 loss to West Potomac, there is a lot of arm-chair quarterbacking going on. Yet the Centreville faithful will have to be patient with head coach Gerry Pannoni's new offense, however hard that might be. Remember, running back Andrew Morgan did rush for well over 100 yards, and quarterback PJ Dunegan isn't 100%. Coach Pannoni does know how to coach, so expect a few wrinkles in the offense to get that unit rolling.
Too Much Hype?
The Northern Region has put its non-district rivalry games in the opening week of the season this year, but the anticipation for those games didn't really match the results. Fairfax lost to their cross-town rival Woodson 35-0 while Herndon fell to Park View 37-7 for the second straight year. Then out in Burke, Robinson shut-out Lake Braddock by a score of 21-0.
Rivalry Week!
Meanwhile out in Oakton, the annual Outback Bowl certainly lived up to its billing. When it comes to rivalries, anything goes, as happened out in Oakton last Friday. Madison upset their rival by the score of 14-7 for the first time since the 2002 season. Over the past three years, Oakton has come to outright dominate this rivalry, and fans didn't expect much different this year. So when Madison walked off the field victorious, that certainly was a surprise to most in attendance, but it only adds more fuel to the fiery rivalry that is the Outback Bowl!
Concorde Broadcast Schedule for September 7th:
Stone Bridge at Robinson (Coverage starts at 6:45)
Oakton at Annandale (Coverage starts at 7:15)
Washington-Lee at Chantilly (Coverage starts at 7:15)
Complete Concorde Schedule for Friday night:
Centreville @ West Potomac 7:30 PM
Washington-Lee @ Chantilly 7:30 PM
Fairfax @ Marshall 7:30 PM
Herndon @ South Lakes 7:30 PM
Oakton @ Annandale 7:30 PM
Stone Bridge @ Robinson 7:00 PM
Westfield @ Lee 7:30 PM
