On the Sidelines with Dan Sousa
By Dan Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor
Ashburn (Nov. 29, 2008) - Ahhhhhh. Gameday has arrived.
No more practice time. No more film breakdown. No more message board banter (thank goodness!). Now it is time for VHSL teams across the state to step onto the field and show that they are worthy of advancing to next week's six divisional state title games. Among the 24 teams playing for glory today are Broad Run and Stone Bridge with the Spartans hosting Chancellor at 2 p.m. and the Bulldogs at the Beach, playing against Phoebus at 1:30 p.m.
(Sign up to follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LPSMonkey and we will send you live updates of both games ... plus Dan Sousa will be filing Live! reports online from Broad Run today so check back to www.loudounprepsports.com)
Two Schools that are less than five minutes apart in Ashburn, depending on if you time that light right at Claiborne Parkway and Ashburn Farm Parkway. How close are these schools? The kids that live across the street and can see the Spartans stadium lights from their bedrooms, attend and play football at Stone Bridge. That is because Stone Bridge draws all of the Ashburn Farm development students and Broad Run, which draws all of the Ashburn Village development students, sits on the edge of the Farm.
In our neighborhood, close enough to Stone Bridge such that we can hear the Jon Stancik's booming voice over the P.A. on game nights, neighbors with high school age kids in 2000 had to decide to either stay at Broad Run or move to Stone Bridge with its opening.
I was able to venture out on a very cold Thanksgiving Week morning this week and attend practices at both schools. For Stone Bridge, this is business as usual as the Bulldogs have been practicing over Thanksgiving now for seven consecutive years. For Broad Run, this is the first time the school has made it this far. Since opening in 1969, the Spartans have always had their gear turned in prior to the state semifinals.That even includes those years when a young Mickey Thompson, Stone Bridge's head coach, was playing at Broad Run in the 1970s. Don't you wish you could pull a "Life on Mars" and fall back into time and witness a practice from that era when the Broad Run High School was surrounded by corn fields and extra points kicked too far were in danger of getting lost in the crops!
Imagine if the two schools talent was currently combined ... Patrick Thompson throwing to Adrian Flemming ... Breon Earl and T.J. Peeler running out of the single wing ... Kenny McAdow lining up at linebacker next to Mike Olson ... of course, the coaching staff would have about 20 guys!
Watching Stone Bridge this week, I was struck by how relaxed the team was ... much more so than last year prior to playing Phoebus. I can't decide if the highlight of the practice, at least for me and many players, was when Thompson stepped up and kicked a line drive field goal ... it cleared the crossbar but was one ugly kick and his players enjoyed the moment. Later in practice, watching the Bulldogs defense backs and linebackers go against the "Phoebus scout team" there was a lot of talk back and forth, especially about all the behind the line of scrimmage and short passes the scout team was completing. Backyard Football somebody called it ... if you have a kid who likes computer games, then you know about Backyard Football and Baseball and Basketball and the other games.
Of course those computer games have special plays and abilities you can use ... such as Sonic Boom, which blasts the defense to the ground and sure enough, the defense decided to have some fun, and on the next play, as the Scout Team ran their patterns, the entire defensive unit fell to the turf ... "It was Sonic Boom" they claimed.
Thompson, walking around to the various units going through their paces, called over and said he assumed they were ready to move on to the next stage of practices since they were all falling on the ground.
I talked to Thompson after practice (see interview) and he seemed as confident as I have ever heard him. At some point, either today or next Saturday, the magic ride of Thompson and his twin boys, both on varsity for four years now, will come to an end. Since the boys have been playing for dad ... the program is 50-4!
Next up, was Broad Run and the Spartans practice ... the coaches really think you are going above and beyond the call of duty, making these football practices (trust me, remember how boring they were as players ... double it for a member of the media) but really, I'm justing getting out of my wife's "Honey Do" list or shucking corn or stuffing a turkey or whatever else happens at this time of year ... I just take off and do a bunch of football and then show up on Thanksgiving Day ... this big feast appears magically. I'll have to thank my wife I guess ... maybe she wants to attend a state title football game next week.
The Spartans practice, at least in my opinion, had a little more of an edge to it. Last year Broad Run went 10-0 which was a school record and then with all the celebration and "feel good" feelings they went out the next week and lost to Park View in the first round of the playoffs, a team they had beaten in the final week of the regular season. A sour ending to a great story.
So this year, Broad Run wraps up a 10-0 season and there are barely even any smiles. More work to do. They win a playoff game for the first time since the year some of the players were born and still no "feel good" moments yet. They win the regional title and you can see a photo of coach Mike Burnett holding up two fingers ... not the number of playoff wins to date but the number of playoff wins to go to win a state title.
This Spartan unit will have an edge or a chip on their shoulders until they win the state title next week ... heck, they might not even celebrate then! Last season ended too soon ... this season, they don't want it to end as this is a special group.
Two Schools. Two Games. Two Chances to Keep a Season Alive.
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*Football could still have another week. Basketball teams are already playing games that count. Is it just me, or shouldn't we have a true seperation in the seasons. Even if it means shorten each season, I'd like to see a buffer between each season. I know, I know, I'm Old School in this thinking. Even when I played in high school, I remember having to go personally and drag our star tailback out of basketball practice as we were still in Week 10 of our football season!
**If it wasn't for Thanksgiving, would there even be a reason for yams, cranberries and pumpkin pie. I request a nice chocolate pie each Thanksgiving and what do I get ... pumpkin ... ugh.
***When will Loudoun start looking at cutting into athletic programs and budgets? It has to come as the money here will be very tight for the next several years until the economy does its slow U-turn. Fairfax is looking at cutting gymnastics and gymnastics programs in Loudoun have will slim participation, the lowest of any varsity sport. I can see where schools will be asked to travel less to save money and maybe freshman and JV sports could lose some contests to save money on travel, officials, etc. At some point, every aspect of Loudoun schools spending will have to look at cutting expenses and athletics will be no exception.
****Do you think the Dulles District in basketball will name three of four Coach of the Year selections this year ... like football, or just stick with the old ... one Coach of the Year!
*****I covered the Turkey Bow in D.C. on Thanksgiving Day (talk about getting out of family work!) ... and Eastern High School in D.C. had a great synthetic turf field ... makes me shed a tear (honest) that Loudoun has no turf fields at its 10 high schools.
