By Paul Frommelt
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Photos by Jimmy Thomas and Paul Frommelt
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Osbourn head coach Steve Schultze walked into the room and immediately tried to bring a bit of levity to the situation. Glancing at a scoring summary from the Eagles’ 54-24 loss to Oscar Smith in the Division 6 VHSL championship game at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Schultze remarked, “Too many daggone Oscar Smith scores on this daggone paper.”
The facts were staring him right at the face. For the first time in postseason, the underdog Eagles didn’t have enough to pull off the upset. After three weeks of Cinderella victories over undefeated teams, the Eagles fell one game short of their goal.
“Tonight, we just got beat by a really good football team,” said Schultze. “We just have to take our hats off to that team. They beat us tonight and they were the better team.”
Really good football teams are what the Eagles’ had grown accustomed to beating. After knocking off undefeated Battlefield and Woodbridge to win the Div. 6 Northwest Region title and then blowing out undefeated Varina in the first round of the state tournament, Osbourn — with its 6-4 record heading into the postseason — embraced the underdog role. The Eagles enjoyed pulling off the upset.
Oscar Smith (15-0), however, wasn’t interested in becoming the fourth consecutive undefeated team to lose to the Eagles — scoring with a quick touchdown pass from junior quarterback Phillip Sims to wide receiver Tim Smith in the game’s first three minutes and following it up with four more touchdowns by the end of the first half. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the Tigers had built a 34-point lead.
“It wasn’t fun, I can tell you that,” said Schultze of watching Sims connect with UVa-bound Smith four times in the first half on passes of 34, 64, 54 and 54 yards. “They kind of shocked us getting up quick. We didn’t handle that very well.”
While the Tigers’ passing game was able to exploit the Eagles’ defense, Oscar Smith’s stout defense — which allowed an average of 6.6 points per game coming in — held Osbourn in check. The the Eagles’ first five possessions ended with three punts and two turnovers on downs. Their six ended with quarterback Thomas Keith being sacked in their own end zone for a safety.
At halftime, Schultze walked into a morose locker room.
“They were upset when I walked in and I said, ‘Stop being upset. You are playing a ballgame. Let’s go enjoy where we are and battle and compete.’ Our kids did that,” he said. “They battled and they didn’t give up. As a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”
After two more punts to start the second half, the Eagles’ offense showed some life on their third possession, going 86 yards on 16 plays in just over five minutes to get on the board. Keith ran it in from one yard out for the score. Osbourn found the end zone twice more in the fourth quarter to outscore Oscar Smith 24-20 in the second half.
“We started off inconsistent, but we came back with a vengeance. We really battled and competed and came together,” said Schultze.
After the game, Schultze reflected on his team’s impressive run during the postseason.
“For us to be underdogs, week in and week out, to win six in a row and beat four undefeated teams and to get to this point is a great accomplishment,” he said. “We knew that we had a great ballclub and we felt like we deserved to be here. We are not at all feeling lucky to be here. These kids battled and fought and competed.”
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Osbourn side Lane Stadium gave their team a standing ovation.
“That’s the type of people that we grew up with, the type of people that are backing our program,” Schultze said of the fans. “Osbourn and the and the City of Manassas can’t be more proud of how hard our team fought from day one.”
Notes: Oscar Smith wins its first Div. 6 state championship in school history and is the third Eastern Region team to win a state title since 1995… The Eagles won a Div. 6 title in 2006 with a 42-20 victory over Chantilly… Oscar Smith and Div. 5 winner Phoebus become the 2nd and 3rd teams to finish the season 15-0. Westfield went 15-0 last year, en route to a Div. 6 crown in the first year of the Northern and Eastern region’s expanded schedules… Oscar Smith QB Phillip Sims broke the AAA playoff game touchdown passes record with six — which also ties him for the record for most touchdowns in a game by a single player. Sims also holds the record for most yards (480) and completions (26)… Oscar Smith WR Tim Smith broke the AAA playoff game for most touchdown receptions with four… Osbourn QB Thomas Keith accounted for all three Osbourn touchdowns with two passing and one rushing.
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