Division 6 Northern Region Final
No. 3 Chantilly (9-3) at No. 1 Oakton (12-0) — November 22 at 1:30 p.m.
HISTORY
For eight straight seasons, a Concorde District team has participated
in the Division 6 state championship game. So there will be no
Cinderella sentiment when the Chargers and Cougars meet for the second
time this season.
Oakton is in its third Northern Region championship game since 2004. Chantilly, who went 0-10 in Coach Mike Lalli‘s inauguarl season in 2004, has reached the regional final twice in that span.
These teams have met 10 times this decade, each school having won five
games. The Chargers hold the scoring edge in those meetings, 174-160,
which amounts to a whopping 1.4 points per game.
The Cougars were on the right side of that minuscule margin most
recently, a 17-15 victory on October 3. That was the closest win for
unbeaten Oakton this year.
The Chargers have the only playoff win between the teams in that span,
23-14 at home, in their state championship game run two years ago.
It will be interesting to see how much bearing the two-point Oakton win
from October and the tight series history will have on Saturday
afternoon.
QUARTERBACKS
The Cougars get the edge at the quarterback position; there are two of them! Concorde District offensive player of the year Chris Coyer
has over 1,100 yards passing and over 1,000 rushing yards to lead the
Oakton spread offense. He’s also accounted for 26 touchdowns — 15
passing and 10 rushing — including four throwing and two on the ground
in last week’s 49-43 win over West Springfield.
Senior Ryan Harris enters after
three drives to provide a change of pace for the Cougars and allow
Coyer to line up out wide. Harris has accounted for nearly 700 yards of
offense this season, so he can’t be dismissed as a threat.
The Chargers feature a first-year starter under center in senior Roger Strittmatter,
a transfer from Paul VI. Even though he’s only thrown for 793 yards and
nine touchdowns to six interceptions this season, he’s shown some
definite maturity in the team’s biggest games.
Last week, with running back Torrian Pace sidelined on the game-winning drive with an ankle injury, Strittmatter found wide receiver Chris Vaughn
for 15 yards on 3rd-and-5 with under five minutes remaining to keep the
chains moving in what proved a 35-28 win over defending state champion
Westfield. Strittmatter is averaging 15.5 yards per completion and
recorded one of his three 100-yard passing games came against Oakton.
RUNNING BACKS
The Cougars feature a tailback duo that’s tough to contain — let alone
stop — but no one anywhere has better hotter than Charger senior
Torrian Pace.
Pace has — brace yourself — 777 all-purpose yards and 10 touchdowns
in the last two playoff games. He carried 34 times for 356 yards and
all five Chantilly touchdowns last week in the Westfield win. Against
the usually sure-tackling Bulldog defensive front, Pace was a bull,
churning out the extra yard — or 30 — on every touch.
Pace has a Northern Region-high 2,468 yards and 36 touchdowns this
season. That means his average game is 206 yards and three scores.
The maroon and gold, though, give Pace a run for his money. Senior Trey Watts
is the definition of dual-threat with 577 rushing yards and a team-high
615 receiving yards, accounting for 21 touchdowns. Senior speedster Johnny Meadows, who runs with his trademark towel flapping along his left thigh, leads the Cougars with 749 rushing yards and 10 scores.
Pace’s lowest rushing total of the season by far, 87 yards, came
against Oakton earlier this year. Only once outside of that game was he
kept below 150 on the ground.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Chantilly has the advantage at wide receiver, simply because Oakton’s
top receiver, Watts, comes out of the backfield. But beyond that,
senior tight end Mike Ryan
is the most unsung piece of the Charger puzzle. He only has two
touchdowns this season and both of those came against Fairfax, a game
which accounted for over 40-percent of his 249 receiving yards this
year.
But in 3rd-and-medium situations on Saturday, the stout Cougar defense
— to be praised momentarily — will be stacking the box against No.
25. A completion or two to Chantilly’s sure-handed tight end — a
staple of the Charger offense for four seasons — will keep Oakton
honest and give Pace the breathing room he needs to break out.
DEFENSE
Defense couldn’t be more integral to winning. The top five scoring
defenses were the top five teams in the DigitalSports Top Ten entering
last week. Oakton is third in the Northern Region — tops in Division 6
— allowing 16.8 points per game. Not far behind, Chantilly gives up
18.3 points per game, 0.2 points behind fourth-place Westfield.
But the Cougar linebacking corps makes the difference. Seniors Joey McCallum, Kenny Hanson and Jack Tyler
anchor the most versatile — and violent — group around. All three can
both swarm the run and swat down passes when called upon.
The Oakton secondary has bent, but not broken all year. Senior Joey Kopfman and junior Andrew Leonard — along with Tyler — are among the Northern Region leaders in interceptions.
SPECIAL TEAMS
This aspect is dead even. Both teams feature explosive return men — Watts for Oakton and senior Michael Fries for Chantilly — and both have reliable options at kicker.
Junior Ray Goins is rock-solid on extra points and has enough range to hit from 35 yards on field goals. Chantilly turned to senior punter Ryan Abott for extra points after Week 4, but keeps senior Scott Puschell
for field goals. Puschell’s leg is a little stronger than Goins’, but
the Cougar kicker has the edge in the accuracy department.
***
The obvious tendency is to favor the undefeated team. And talking to
coaches and writers around the Northern Region, most are assuming an
Oscar Smith at Oakton state semifinal next weekend.
But remember, the Chargers were two points from overcoming a 17-point
halftime deficit to the Cougars in Week 6. Chantilly’s three losses are
to teams with a combined 33-3 record — two of those three teams are
still alive and undefeated, including Oakton.
And it was two years ago that a three-loss Charger team that went to
unbeaten — and seemingly untouchable — Westfield, only to ride a
back-up quarterback and two underclassmen running backs to a 26-21 win.
One of those two tailbacks was Pace.
Oakton returned 18 starters from last season and has been on the short
list of probable regional championships since August. It is likely the
favorite for Saturday’s game on paper. However, during this postseason,
Chantilly has been, quite frankly, as solid as a rock.
But remember: More often than not, paper covers rock.
E-mail: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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