Stone Bridge, Westfield Claim Championships.....
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Championship Saturday turned out to be even better than expected for the Stone Bridge Bulldogs and Westfield Bulldogs. Both teams won the state championship in convincing fashion in front of a big crowd at the University of Virginia.
Stone Bridge played the early game against undefeated Potomac, and the Bulldogs quickly applied pressure to the Panthers by scoring first on a Patrick Thompson 42 yard touchdown pass to Ryan Moody. Moody, who played in the 2005 state title game for the Bulldogs and was on the wrong end of a fumble at the end of that game against Hampton, sought vindication on Saturday, and boy did he get it. The senior receiver for Stone Bridge finished the day with 158 yards on 6 catches and more importantly, 3 touchdowns on the day. Moody may very well have caught a 4th touchdown from Thompson but the ball popped up in the air when he hit the ground, and teammate John Bladel snagged it out of mid-air for the score.
Leading up to the game on Saturday, Stone Bridge head coach Mickey Thompson was concerned about his son Patrick's ability to throw the football. Patrick suffered a shoulder injury against Phoebus a week earlier, and as of Friday, the shoulder was still causing some discomfort and problems in practice. But on Saturday, Patrick Thompson showed up big and led his team to the first ever state championship in school history with a 38-0 drubbing of Potomac.
The day was a special one for the elder Thompson who was able to win his first state title as a head coach while watching his two twin sons play a pivotal role in the outcome. In his post game interview, Thompson said this day was a dream come true.
"I was looking up there at the Jumbo Tron and seeing pictures of my sons and wife over there, and you always dream of that," Thompson said after the game.
Thompson, a 4 time All Gameday Coach of the Year arguably did his best job of coaching yet in his tenure at Stone Bridge. The Bulldogs replaced several major college football players from last year's team and yet they stormed the Northern Region and found the answers at the right places to win the state championship.
Stone Bridge won 13 consecutive games to end the season on their way to making school history with their first state football championship.
In the nightcap and the Division 6 state title game, the undefeated Westfield Bulldogs faced a scrappy Woodbridge team that had been playing great football leading up to the championship game. The Bulldogs were clearly the favorite to win by a large margin, but the Vikings came out strong, scoring first and keeping the game close behind the running of junior tailback DeAntwan Rocket Williams. Williams finished with two touchdown runs and late in the 3rd quarter the score was tied 14-14. After the Vikings tied the game, Westfield marched down the field to and scored on a David Kruchko catch from Mike Glennon to go up 21-14.
On the next possession, the Bulldog defense came up with the big play of the day when Brian Kennedy intercepted a Jake Myer pass and gave his offense the football deep inside Viking territory. Westfield got some help from an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and the Bulldogs took advantage of the Woodbridge mistake with another score to increase their lead to 28-14.
Westfield added another touchdown when Kyle Gofredo intercepted Myer and returned it to the house to make the score 35-14. The Bulldogs never looked back as they scored again late in the game to bring the final score to 42-14.
Westfield claimed its second state title in the past four seasons under Tom Verbanic, and after the game, the Bulldog skipper couldn't say enough about how his team played in the second half.
"At halftime we felt like we needed to just execute like we normally do on offense," Verbanic said. "I just told them that let's not press, we don't have to win, but we need to play well, and we've shown in the past few weeks that we can turn it on offensively in the second half."
Westfield's Brian Kennedy was named the Chick-fil-A Player of the Game for the Bulldogs along with linebacker Mike King, who played dominant football on Saturday night. The Bulldogs finished 15-0 and may stake claim to a top 10 national ranking next week when the final rankings are decided.
Check back this weekend for more coverage of the state championships right here online at gamedaymagazine.com including video, audio, and photo galleries from both games.....
