Point After: I've Seen This Show Before
At one point on Friday, I thought I was watching last year's Westfield team playing against Chantilly. They looked that strong, and more importantly, they looked confident! Look out Concorde District, here come the Bulldogs!
Photo By: Marc Gold / Gameday Magazine
One main reason why Westfield is off to another great start is the play of their offensive line led by Tyler Barfield. Barfield and his fellow big uglies played well against Chantilly, and will get another test this week against Robinson.
Photo By: Sue Spencer / Perfect Shot Photos
(STERLING, VA) - Boy, you hate to think that by week 4 of the football season, we may already be able to forecast who will most likely win district championships, but it is starting to look like that might be the case.
While Stone Bridge pretty much assured everyone that they are going to crush everyone on their schedule after their first two wins over West Springfield and Robinson, the other districts like the Concorde appeared up for grabs. At least until last Friday night when last year's state champion Westfield put on a show against rival Chantilly and won in a dominant way 32-7.
The Bulldogs had struggled in week 1 against South County, and put together two soft wins over Hayfield and R.E Lee the following weeks, but the way they beat Chantilly opened my eyes for a few reasons. First, while the Bulldogs graduated over 40 seniors from the 2007 team, they apparently had two teams last fall that were ready to go, because all but 4 starters were fresh faces last Friday in what many tabbed as the game of the year thus far.
Those fresh faces beat Chantilly to the punch in almost every facet of the game, and by night's end, my broadcast partners and I walked away thinking we had just watched a highlight reel of the 2007 Westfield season.
Junior Danny Fenyak did his best Mike Glennon imitation, and tailback Jordan Anderson looked like Brian Kennedy and Steven Tabot rolled into one person. The most dominating performance came on defense, where the Bulldogs once again stuffed an opponent, holding the Chargers to just 7 points in the game.
While it is certainly early to anoint championships, the door that had seemed wide open for teams like Oakton, Robinson, Centreville, Chantilly, and yes, even Herndon, was only cracked slightly after Friday night.
Westfield proved they could run and throw against a solid defense, and then they preceded to shutdown the area's best tailback Torrian Pace, holding him without a touchdown in the contest.
Right now, if I had to take a guess as to who would win the Concorde, the conversation starts with Westfield, and then trickles down to the rest of the pack. The only team that appears to have a legit chance is Oakton, who will see Westfield in the coming weeks.
The Liberty District is all but wrapped up in a nice bow for Stone Bridge with the way they are playing, and the National District again looks like Edison's to lose. The good news is the Patriot District may in fact see a new champion if South County keeps improving, but West Springfield will be hard to beat as the season goes on.
Could we see every champion from 2007 be crowned champions again in 2008? After week 4 of the season, I'm getting that feeling, aren't you?
2008 ALL GAMEDAY WATCH:
Presented by: Best Buy
Evan Winfrey - Westfield High School
Senior Defensive Back / Receiver
Winfrey has been the most dominant big play defensive back in the Northern Region thus far, and he continued that trend on Friday against Chantilly. Winfrey intercepted two passes and also caught a touchdown from quarterback Danny Fenyak to help Westfield improve to 4-0 with a 32-7 win.
Zach Ozycz - Herndon High School
Senior Quarterback
Ozycz is quickly becoming a household name by beating traditional powers in the Concorde. Ozycz and the Hornets took care of Centreville on Friday night in convincing fashion 21-7. The right handed signal caller finished the night a perfect 9 for 9 passing for 169 yards and a touchdown.
John Lockwood - West Springfield High School
Senior Defensive End
While the Spartan defense stumbled early, they have certainly rebounded as of late. Much of that is due to the play of Lockwood at defensive end. Lockwood turned in an All Gameday type performance Friday night against Hayfield, registering 10 solo tackles, 2 assists, and 2 sacks in the game.
Daniel Allen - Stone Bridge High School
Senior Tailback
After missing most of the 2007 season with an injury, Stone Bridge's Daniel Allen has emerged as the player we all thought he would become. Allen had another stellar game against Loudoun Valley Friday, scoring 4 touchdowns in the 64-13 win over the Vikings. This season, Allen has scored 6 touchdowns on just 47 carries. That's a touchdown every 7.8 carries.
GAMEDAY LEADERBOARD:
Presented By: Velocity Sports Performance
PASSING LEADERS:
Cole Walter - West Potomac
56 of 92 for 1117 yards, 16 touchdowns, 2 Interceptions
Bryn Renner - West Springfield
70 for 116, 1,033 yards, 11 touchdowns, 2 Interceptions
Patrick Thompson - Stone Bridge
43 of 65 for 854 yards, 12 touchdowns, 2 Interceptions, 5 rushing touchdowns
RUSHING LEADERS:
Torrian Pace - Chantilly
605 yards, 7 touchdowns
Jordon Anderson - Westfield
65 carries for 601 yards, 9 touchdowns, 1 receiving touchdown
David Helmer - Langley
102 carries for 521 yards, 7 touchdowns
Andy Hayes is the owner and founder of Gameday Magazine and the Gameday Radio Network. He can be reached by e-mail at GamedayMagazine@aol.com. Visit GamedayMagazine.com for more local high school sports coverage.....
