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Langley Coach Earl Brewer congratulates his players on their second straight Liberty District championship in this post-game address on Friday.

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By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area

** Click the links to the left to see hundreds of photos, video highlights and an interview with Langley senior standouts Galen Kuney and Ryan Ningard from Friday's championship game!

** Look below the story to find a complete list of the 2009 All-Liberty District first-team honorees.

From the instant Madison junior Gordon Bailey flipped his highlight reel over-the-shoulder, behind-the back goal to propel his team to overtime -- and, ultimately, to victory -- against Langley nearly two weeks ago, the previously unbeaten Saxons have been licking their chops at the mere thought of having another shot at the Warhawks.

They got it Friday night in the Liberty District championship game at Marshall.

And victory, the Saxons all agreed, never tasted so sweet.

It was an exuberant and heartfelt post-game celebration from Langley, which got five goals from senior attacker Ryan Ningard, and equally spectacular performances from senior midfielder Alex Devlin, senior goalie Galen Kuney and senior defender Trevor Shafran in the victory.

"Our goal coming into the season for us was to get the perfect season and go undefeated so we were just looking at it as they were the team that ruined that, and we just really wanted to come out and beat them," said Kuney, whose team improved to 14-1 overall.

"This was probably the most motivated any of us have been for a game this entire season.

"We watched them against Woodson in the semifinal and we were rooting for them to win because we wanted a chance to beat them."

The Saxons jumped to a 6-2 lead by the end of the first quarter on the strength of a hat-trick by Ningard and three more goals by Devlin, junior attacker Ethan Bailey and senior midfielder Charlie Scharfen. Langley maintained a two-goal lead at the end of the second and third periods -- leading 7-5 and 8-6, respectively -- but that's when the feisty Warhawks truly put the pressure on.

Madison (11-2) pulled within a single goal twice in the fourth quarter, closing within 8-7 during a three-minute stick penalty on a goal by senior midfielder Matt Russiello with 11 minutes, 50 seconds remaining and again at 9-8 on a score by junior attacker Will Cybulski with 8:03 remaining.

But unlike their regular-season meeting, this time the Saxons never let the Warhawks even tie the game. Instead, Langley finished with two unanswered goals -- one each by Bailey and Ningard -- to secure the championship.

"My knees were definitely shaking a little over there," longtime Langley Coach Earl Brewer said. "I have tremendous respect for that team over there ... and so do my guys. We know how talented they are. Guys like Mike Hayden and Will Cybulski, they scare the living daylights out of you every time they touch the ball. But we were able to really get the momentum to swing there at the end."

Now Langley, as the Liberty District's top seed, advance to host Concorde District No. 4 seed Oakton (6-8) in a Northern Region quarterfinal on Tuesday while runner-up Madison will host Concorde No. 3 seed Robinson. The Cougars have ended the Saxons' season four of the past six season, but it was Langley who delivered a 2-0 victory over Oakton to end the regular-season on April 29.

"We're going up against an Oakton team that has cut our season short like four times since 2004," Brewer said. "They beat us 2004, they beat us 2005 in the regional championship, they beat us 2006 and they beat us last year to end our season. So I know my guys would love to get an opportunity to end their season, too. So we're psyched."

Email: awatts@digitalsports.com

No. 10 Madison    2  3  1  2 --  8
Langley                6  1  1  3 -- 11

Goals -- Madison: 8 (Hayden 3, Headley 2, Cybulski, McCool, Russiello); Langley: 11 (Ningard 5, Bailey 2, Devlin 2, J. Kuney, C. Scharfen).

All-Liberty District First-Team Honorees

Offensive Player of the Year: Stefan Kowalski, Sr., Thomas Jefferson

Defensive Player of the Year: Ed Reed, Sr., South Lakes

Coach of the Year: Rich Hodge, Madison

Assistant Coach of the Year: Mike Freudinger, Madison and Ryan Hilliard, W.T. Woodson

First Team

Attack: Will Cybulski, Jr., Madison; Mike Hayden, Sr., Madison; Derek Maltz, Jr., Stone Bridge; Ryan Ningard, Sr., Langley; Paul Tunick, Sr., W.T. Woodson. Midfield: Matt Cronin, Sr., Langley; Alex Devlin, Sr., Langley; Tyler Harned, Sr., South Lakes; Stephen Kowalski, Sr., Thomas Jefferson; Tyler Lowdermilk, Sr., Stone Bridge; Kevin Smith, Sr., Marshall. Defense: Grayson Dahl, Sr., McLean; Stephen Montgomery, Jr., W.T. Woodson; Ed Reed, Sr., South Lakes; Trevor Shafran, Sr., Langley; Nick Vonesh, Sr., Madison. Goalie: Stephen Colangelo, Sr., W.T. Woodson; Galen Kuney, Sr., Langley.