Stone Bridge Captures 4th Cheer Title
RICHMOND, VA -- The Terriers of William Byrd and the Stone Bridge Bulldogs both took big bites at Saturday's state cheerleading competition, as the Terriers took the Double-A state title, thus repeating as champions. The Bulldogs reclaimed their place on the throne, taking their 4th state title in the last 5 years.
3rd place in the Double-A competition went to last year's state champion, the Brentsville Tigers, who put up a score of 264. The Spartans of Broad Run claimed 2nd place for the third year in a row, just edging out Brentsville with a score of 265. The favored Terriers then claimed their title by narrowly beating the Spartans with a score of 266.5.
The Tabb Tigers and the Potomac Falls Panthers represented the two teams who made it to the final round but did not medal.
As for the Triple-A Competition, the defending state champions, the Chantilly Chargers, were not present, as they placed in the Northern Region competition, thus failing to make the cut by one place. That meant that the state title was up for grabs.
It was fierce competition throughout the night. The Cosby Titans, Stone Bridge, the Fairfax Rebels, the Bethel Bruins, and the Gar-Field Indians represented the teams who advanced to the 2nd round. The second place winners from last year, the Hickory Hawks, made the state competition but failed to advance.
A team that seemingly came out of nowhere, the Bethel Bruins claimed 3rd place in the Triple-A competition with a score of 247. It was all Northern Region from there. 2nd place went to the Fairfax Rebels, as they put up 252 points. 1st place went the Bulldogs, who put up 259.5 points, winning in a landslide. This marks their 4th state title in the last 5 years, the first of those four titles coming when the Bulldogs were still in the Double-A classification. This also marks the 5th year in a row the Bulldogs have medaled, as they finished 3rd place in the competition last year.
Overall, the Northern Region dominated the night, claiming half the combined medals from the two competitions (Broad Run, Fairfax, Stone Bridge).
"This is the best," said Stone Bridge assistant coach Joe Dolansky after the night. Dolansky used to be the head coach of the Bulldogs prior to last year, when he stepped down for a year to take a break.
