Resilience, Redemption, and Resolve

Then, as quickly as it struck, it was gone, yesterday’s news, filed away as a no-way-will-this-happen-again memory, transformed into fuel for a new and better day.

 

Such was Collegiate quarterback T Brewer’s experience late the afternoon of November 4.

 

With the Cougars trailing St. Christopher’s 13-10 in overtime of their last regular season football game, the 6-0, 175-pound senior spotted wideout Ayinde Budd running a post route right to left, sent a well-tuned, sure-thing spiral his way, then cringed as Saints’ linebacker Hartley Jordan picked it off to ignite a spontaneous celebration by the home team.

 

“I walked to the sideline and crouched down,” Brewer said.  “It hit me for about 10 seconds: I let this happen.  We just lost to St. Christopher’s. Then Coach (Trip) Featherston (Collegiate’s offensive coordinator) came over, picked me up off my crouch, and said, ‘It’s over.’ Right after that, I got in this mindset: You know what? It happened. There’s nothing I can do about it. Our goals are still ahead of us.  Nothing’s changed.”

 

As fate would have it, a week later, the Cougars met St. Christopher’s in the VISAA, Division I semifinal. This time, on a cold, windy, overcast afternoon, Brewer and crew won 21-7 and earned a trip to Oakton November 18 to meet Flint Hill (10-0) for the state championship.

 

“We practiced with a sense of urgency and focused on execution,” said Coach Mark Palyo of the week between SC games. “We knew we were better than how we played. There’s always excitement going into any game, but when you lose to St. Christopher’s, there’s not much that needs to be said.”

 

Let’s rewind for a moment to those two November Saturdays when the Cougars (8-2) and Saints (7-3) squared off on Knowles Field.

 

On November 4, Collegiate amassed 247 yards (57 rushing, 190 passing), gave up 262 (151/111), and lost another 132 on nine penalties.

 

On November 11, the Cougars totaled 277 yards (203 rushing, 74 passing), allowed 211 (172/39), surrendered 45 on four penalties, stopped the Saints on their two trips into the red zone, and intercepted six – six! – passes.

 

“Coach (Philip) Janney and Coach (T.J.) Moon really preached the fundamentals: stay low, be smart, do the coverages, play as a team,” said Travis Reifsnider, a 6-4, 200-pound senior cornerback whose three “picks” gave him six for the season.  “The D-Line brought awesome pressure.  When the quarterback’s throwing fast, he’s maybe not seeing everything out there. We really focused on playing our game and not letting them throw us off our game. That definitely helped us.”

 

On November 4, 5-11, 190-pound senior running back Joseph White (171 carries, 1,003 yards for the year) rushed 15 times for just 59 yards.  On November 11, White carried 30 times for 182 yards.

 

“Straight from the start,” he said of the playoff game, “we had a different energy.  We were ready to play.  We had that chip on our shoulder. We were going to get it done.  Never a doubt.”

 

And Brewer, the savvy, resilient three-year starter whose last regular season game had ended with a resounding thud? On November 11, he threw three touchdown passes – two to Budd (11 and 6 yards) and one to Trey Boll (29 yards) – and left Knowles Field with a much different feeling than he had seven days earlier.

 “I didn’t allow myself to get that we’re-gonna-win-this feeling until about a minute left in the game,” he said.  “Beating St. Chris in the playoffs is a great feeling, but it isn’t the final goal we set in the beginning of the year. Our two goals are simple: win the Prep League and win State.” 

Since 2003, Collegiate has won 10 VISAA semifinal games. Seven times, they’ve captured the state title.  Saturday, they’ll face a Huskies squad which defeated them 41-28 on September 22.

 

They’re respectful but undaunted.

 

“We’re looking forward to another fun week of practice,” said Reifsnider.  “They have an awesome offense, but defensively we’re in a very different spot than we were then. We’ll go up there and fight it out.  We’re ready.”