Apparently practice really does make perfect. Sure, it’s a cliché that usually flies past most 17- and 18-year-old brains, but this week, for the Oakton football team, it stuck.
The Cougars (13-0) executed their coaches’ game plan to perfection on Saturday afternoon, scoring on every possession of the opening half and limiting Chantilly running back Torrian Pace to 106 yards and a long touchdown run.
Oakton’s near-flawless performance resulted in a 52-14 win over the visiting Chargers as coach Joe Thompson’s team won its third Northern Region title since 2002.
“I think we had a great week of practice and we really did execute just like we practiced all week,” said Thompson, whose team will host Eastern Region champion Oscar Smith next Saturday in the Virginia AAA state semifinals. “In a lot of ways, every plan we ran today was just how we drew it up.”
With an 11-play, 74-yard drive that took nearly five minutes to start the game, Oakton grabbed a 7-0 lead when quarterback Chris Coyer scored from five yards out.
The first drive set the tone for Oakton and after intercepting Chantilly quarterback Roger Strittmatter, Coyer and Co. went back to work. Running back Jonathan Meadows (19 carries, 119 yards) finished the drive with a 27-yard run.
After three Chantilly running plays and a punt, Coyer hit Matt Chandler on a post-corner route from the Oakton 49-yard line for the score. With 1:41 left in the first quarter, Oakton led, 21-0.
In the second quarter, Coyer scored two running touchdowns and running back Trey Watts (91 total yards, two touchdowns) sprinted untouched from 23 yards out for a score.
“That’s was the most complete half that we’ve put together all year,” said Coyer, who passed for 186 yards, ran for 43 more and totaled five touchdowns. “We executed the game plan exactly the way our coaches drew it up. In the first half, we didn’t leave any points left to be scored on the board.”
On defense, Oakton limited Pace to 22 yards on 10 carries in the opening half. The defense “tackled everything that moved” at practice this week, according to Thompson, and the extra work paid off.
Pace wasn’t a factor, scoring from 63 yards out with 4:44 left in the third quarter after Oakton had built a 52-0 lead. In the past two weeks, Pace had totaled 721 yards and nine touchdowns.
“[There’s] not too much to say when you lose by 38,” said Chantilly coach Mike Lalli, whose team finished the season at 9-4. “They played extremely well and we didn’t show up. Losing by 38, it’s not the play-calling. It’s not one individual. They just played better than us.”
Chantilly didn’t gain a first down until the eight-minute mark of the second quarter and totaled just two in the first half. Meanwhile, Oakton built a 42-0 halftime lead with perfect execution of this week’s game plan.
“We had a great week of practice and coming into the game we were fired up,” said Oakton linebacker Jack Tyler. “We just exploded on all cylinders. I didn’t even know our offense could put up that many points.”