Tough Loss But Much to Celebrate

Tough day. Long bus ride home.
That wasn’t the Collegiate Cougars’ plan, of course, when they traveled to Flint Hill in Oakton Saturday for the VISAA, Division I championship football game.
 
On a cool, windy, overcast afternoon amidst a sporadic drizzle, though, the undefeated Huskies made it a reality to the tune of 33-21.
 
“The number one thing we had to do,” said Collegiate coach Mark Palyo, “was stop No. 23, Jordan Houston. At times, we bottled him up and shut him down, but he’s still quick and explosive and can make the huge play. He did that to us a couple of times today.”
 
A 5-10, 180-pound junior, Houston carried 22 times for 163 yards and three touchdowns including sprints of 39 yards to give the Huskies the lead in the second quarter and 43 yards to ice the game in the fourth.
 
Flint Hill (11-0 and a first-time state champ) ran 42 plays for 376 yards (216 rushing, 160 passing).
 
Against the Huskies’ blitzing 3-4 defense, the Cougars (8-3) ran 66 plays for 285 yards, 262 through the air but only 23 (on 23 attempts) on the ground. Quarterback T Brewer completed 24-of-43 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
 
“We had a good start and really tried to run the ball, but they’re very physical and stopped us,” said Brewer, a 6-0, 175-pound senior and All-Prep League selection. “We had to go more pass-heavy than we wanted to. We wanted to keep their offense on the bench as long as we could, but when you can’t run the ball, that’s hard to do.”
 
The Cougars scored first at 2:52 of the opening period on a 10-yard Brewer-to-Trey Boll pass and Lew Rice’s point-after following a fumble recovery by Garrett Wilson on the Huskies’ 20.
 
Flint Hill answered with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with quarterback Miles Thompson’s 22-yard TD run at 9:11 of the second period. Travis Reifsnider blocked the PAT.
        
Late in the half, the Huskies traveled 61 yards in three plays, the first another 22-yard jaunt by Thompson and the last a 39-yard scoring run by Houston. Justin Duenkel’s extra point sent Flint Hill into halftime ahead 13-7.
        
The Huskies went up 27-7 with two scores in the third quarter. At 2:28, Houston skirted left end from the 2 a play after a 36-yard Thompson-to-Justice Ellison connection. At 1:49, Thompson and Trey Rucker teamed for a 75-yard TD that was essentially a quick 10-yard out and a 65-yard run up the visitors’ sideline.
 
In the final period, the Cougars scored twice, a 1-yard run by Joseph White and an 18-yard Brewer-to-Ayinde Budd pass. Despite three takeaways – interceptions by Andrew Cooke and Nigel Williams and an onside kick recovery by Brad Cornell – it was too little, too late.
 
“Flint Hill is really good,” said Brewer. “They have a great offense. Defensively they played well. We were hanging around, but they made a couple of really good plays and kind of busted it open.”
 
Since the realignment of the VISAA in 2003, the Cougars have appeared in the Division I championship game 10 times. They won four times (2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006) when Charlie McFall was the head coach and three times (2008, 2009, and 2016) with Palyo at the helm.
 
“The boys really played as a team this year,” said Palyo. “They accomplished, really, some great things. It’s been a little while since Collegiate has won the Prep League. It’s been a little while since Collegiate has beaten Episcopal. It’s been even longer since Collegiate has beaten Woodberry Forest. They have a lot to be proud of.”
 
Back