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Click here for the Oakton Cougars 2008 Football Schedule
Click here for the Northern Region (VA) Football Central
No. 3 Oakton High School Cougars — Northern Region, Division 6, Class AAA Concorde District
Head Coach: Joe Thompson, sixth year.
Career Record: 38-19 2007 Record: 5-5 overall, 3-3 district.
Returning Starters: 9 offense/9 defense.
Key Losses: None.
Top Returners: QB Chris Coyer, Sr., 6-3, 215; LB Kevin Culkin, Sr., 6-2, 185; K Ray Goins, Jr., 6-2, 190; DL Brett Halleran, Sr., 6-4, 200; LB Kenny Hanson, Sr., 5-11, 190; QB/WR Ryan Harris, Sr., 5-9, 180; OL John Hart, Jr., 6-2, 235; DB Joey Kopfman, Sr., 5-7, 145; OL Austin Mahew, Jr., 6-2, 185; LB Joey McCallum, Sr., 6-1, 185; RB Johnny Meadows, Sr., 5-10, 190; DL Sheldon Mojica, Sr., 6-3, 190; TE/P Wade Reynolds, Sr., 6-6, 225; DL Scott Stangby, Jr., 6-2, 225; OL Sam Strauss, Jr., 6-3, 265; LB Jack Tyler, Sr., 6-2, 225; WR/P Thomas Vitale, Sr., 5-8, 150; RB Trey Watts, Sr., 5-9, 185; WR Jay Young, Sr., 6-3, 195.
Fresh Faces: RB Derek Gleich, Sr., 5-7, 165; OL Nick Koutris, Jr., 6-5, 230; DB Andrew Leonard, Jr., 5-7, 155; OL Trevor Yarnall, Jr., 5-11, 190.
Game to Watch: Week 6, Oct 3 vs. Chantilly
Since 2000, these teams have met nine times with the Chargers holding a 5-4 advantage in wins, including a first-round play-off win in 2006. Over those nine meetings, however, the net scoring advantage is just 16 points to Chantilly. The Chargers have been victorious in three consecutive games. But this is the first of a torrid four-game stretch for Oakton: Chantilly, Centreville, Robinson, and Westfield. Any win in a series like that is invaluable.
Stadium: Oakton High Stadium (Capacity 4,500).
Experience Brings High Expectations
By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
Twenty-eighth in a series.
Oakton’s devastating, one-point loss to Herndon in the final game of the 2007 regular-season knocked the Cougars out of the Northern Region Division 6 playoffs and put the program, briefly, on its heels.
“Since we lost to Herndon on a two-point conversion to kick us out of the playoffs there hasn’t been a single thing in our program — from the locker room to the uniforms and everything else — that hasn’t been examined by our staff and changed if need be,” Oakton Coach Joe Thompson said.
“We have been very, very self-focused. We have been through a complete overhaul to try and get back to where we think we should be in terms of competitiveness.”
The one thing that Thompson didn’t need to evaluate was player personnel. No. 3 Oakton returns 18 starters — and nearly every back-up — from last year’s squad, the most of any team in the entire Northern Region.
And these aren’t just any players. They’re talented ones.
Senior linebacker Jack Tyler, who is always in the middle of everything, is known for his bone-rattling hits. Senior running backs Johnny Meadows and Trey Watts are both all-purpose backs with a healthy mix of speed and power. And the team’s two senior quarterbacks — Chris Coyer and Ryan Harris — are lefties with arms who can also provide a boost to the ground game.
And that just names a very few.
“We are better this year in every facet of the game,” Thompson said. “We have improved every where on the field in my opinion. We are stronger. We are more experienced. And we are more confident.
“The strength of our team, without question, is our senior class. They’ve been working at it. They are committed and they are disciplined. They are very driven to succeed in all aspects. And because our senior class has such a high football IQ, we’re able to do things seamlessly. We share the ball a lot on offense. A lot of guys are touching it and moving around to different positions. Both of our quarterbacks are team captains and they can play whatever position you put them in on offense or defense — they’re just great football players.
“And our defense is able to give a lot of different looks and fronts. Our defensive line is a year older and a year stronger, our linebackers are solid. … We really feel like anywhere on the field we go we’ve upgraded this year.”
Despite such sweeping, vast improvements, Thompson knows that playing in the Concorde District makes it impossible to predict how the wins-and-losses will unfold.
That’s why the Cougars’ main goal is simply finding a way to make the playoffs that eluded them a year ago.
“I’m not overly confident about this team; nobody is,” Thompson said. “I just know that we’re better. And whether you win or lose, it’s more fun to put a better, more competitive program out on the field and have a chance to play against some real good team and really compete. And that’s what has got us excited. We feel like we can be a competitive team. But we don’t measure our success with wins and losses. Because if you do that in this district against these coaches, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
“I think all our kids have to do is look at the last two years of district play to know that. What we have in terms of returners and experience is counter-balanced by the rest of what our district has in terms of talent and coaching experience.
“I think we are capable of winning a lot of games. But, like I said, we won’t really know that until we see what everybody else has. We’ve been real focused on ourselves this preseason, kind of camped up here and not really looking at anybody else or what they’re doing or who they have. I couldn’t even tell you how many returning starters any other team has.”
One thing’s for certain: It’s not as many as the Cougars do.
Team Bonding
Many members of Oakton’s senior class have been starting for the Cougars since they were sophomores. So this is a group that has already spent considerable time together.
But Thompson wanted ensure complete team unity.
So during the off-season, the team met once a month for “meetings” that included everything from speeches by former Washington Redskin standouts Ken Harvey and Charles Mann to more physically involved team-building activities.
“We talked a lot about commitment and planning, and just what it takes to succeed as a team,” Thompson said. “It’s funny how all that hard work sometimes gets lost when you watch it on TV from afar, but when you’re in the middle of it you know just how hard it is to be successful at anything you do.
“And so at those off-season meetings we kind of threw them together and put them in crazy scenarios and made them work their way out of it as a group. Because of that, they’ve really come to rely on each other, not by who’s in what class or all the preseason hype, but as all being part of the same group. They all get along very well. There are no cliques on this team right now, which is not always easy to say.”
Quotable
“The off-season and this preseason have all been about planning. It’s like setting the table and making the dinner. Now, we’re sitting down to eat. And it’s just as good as we thought it would be.”
— Oakton Coach Joe Thompson
**
Note: DigitalSports’
Preseason Top 10 was chosen by staff members Angela Watts, Jimmy Thomas
and Phil Murphy with input from randomly-selected coaches around the
Northern Region.
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
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