Desperate Woodbridge hosts Stonewall Jackson; Briar Woods faces Loudoun County

Game to watch: No. 15 Stonewall Jackson (9-0) at Woodbridge (5-4), Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Earlier this fall, the Stonewall Jackson-Woodbridge regular season finale looked like it would be for playoff seeding — if Stonewall continued its impressive start.

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Devin Williams of St. John’s is coming back strong after and injury shortened his season.

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McNamara’s Damian Prince, Kevin Robbins and Darius Commissiong will all play college football.

In the past couple of weeks, however, the matchup has taken on a sense of desperation for Woodbridge and a sense of history for Stonewall.

Woodbridge, which has beaten Stonewall in the past five meetings dating back to 2005, needs to upset the Raiders to reach the Virginia AAA Northwest Region Division 6 playoffs. The Vikings gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown two weeks ago in the final minute of a 20-15 loss to Hylton and last week lost to Forest Park, 21-19, for the first time in the last 10 meetings.

Stonewall, enjoying its first winning season since 2004, can become the first unbeaten and untied team in the school’s 40-year history.

“Our kids know what’s at stake,” Stonewall Coach Mike Dougherty said. “Each week we find a different thing to motivate us, and now we have that.”

Even though Stonewall has not produced a winning season since 2004, the unbeaten record through nine games is not a shock inside the program. The seniors went unbeaten three years ago on the freshman team but did not get to stay together on the junior varsity because they were needed on the varsity.

“There’s just a calm about them,” Dougherty said. “Any time they start to see me panic they say ‘Coach, we’ve got this.’ We’ve been in spots where we easily could have panicked.”

The Raiders have scored at least 28 points in each game, but the defense has been overlooked. Senior linebacker Brett Thompson leads the team in tackles and might be the most unsung player on the roster.

“He’s one of those kids that once they all graduate it will be how in the world are we going to replace Brett?” Dougherty said. “Every time we’re watching film in slow motion to see who got the tackle, ‘50’ is pulling himself off the pile in some way. He’s in on everything.”

Six-foot-4, 285-pound sophomore Tim Settle has 20 tackles for loss, four batted passes and four sacks and is gaining college interest. Senior defensive back Dezmon Hopkins and versatile senior linebacker Markell Bates are other defensive playmakers. Freshman free safety Reggie Floyd has been another standout.

His sister, Nicole, recently committed to Wake Forest for basketball.

Stonewall and Woodbridge are not the only teams eagerly awaiting an outcome Friday night. If Stonewall wins, Osbourn (5-5) would qualify for the playoffs. The Eagles have beaten Hylton and Potomac this season.

“It will be the first time in Osbourn history that they’ll be Stonewall fans on Friday,” Dougherty joked about the two Manassas rivals.

Woodbridge reached the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons before not qualifying last season with a 6-4 record. The Vikings have one win this season over a team with a winning record. That was Osbourn Park (5-4).

Game to watch: No. 6 Briar Woods (9-0) at Loudoun County (8-1), Friday, 7 p.m.

Briar Woods travels to Leesburg on Friday night with an identical scenario to the one it faced in its regular season finale last fall.

If the Falcons beat Loudoun County as they did a year ago, they clinch their third straight AA Dulles District title outright and secure the No. 1 seed in the Region II Division 4 playoffs.