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Stonewall Jackson Looks for Repeat
Senior quarterback Ricky Milbourne is ready to emerge and lead Stonewall Jackson to the playoffs again.
(By L. William Kobelka For The Washington Post)
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"I had several single-wing [assistants] that we had to convince this was the right thing to do, and as the head coach, it was my decision," Schultze said. "I felt like we weren't going to be able to pound the ball out and play smash-mouth football. Our emphasis is on . . . making the defense cover the whole field. The last two years, they only had to cover a quarter of it."
Senior running backs Ryan Anderson and Eddie Grizzle and senior receivers Justin Turner, Junior Sesay (who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds in cleats, on grass) and Julian Hooks are Hogan's top threats, with linemen Andrew Custer, Marcus Hyde, Thomas Murphy, Matt Lahna and Travis Young charged with giving him time to throw. Those linemen are seniors except for juniors Hyde and Young.
Osbourn beat two playoff teams last season -- Woodbridge and Potomac -- and three losses were by a touchdown or less. A win over Osbourn Park in the finale broke a nine-game series losing streak.
The district realignments have enabled Osbourn to no longer schedule Gar-Field, which outscored the Eagles, 245-30, the past seven years, or Hylton, which outscored Osbourn, 283-51, the past nine years. Only three teams on the schedule -- Potomac, Woodbridge and Stonewall -- had winning records in 2004, and two opponents are first-year varsity teams.
Osbourn Park Yellow Jackets
The Yellow Jackets were in games last season. They led Hylton, Stonewall and Potomac in three eventual losses.
"We were in them, but I don't know if we just weren't good enough or too young or not experienced," Coach Brian Beaty said. "We just didn't get it done. Football is four quarters, and we'd play a couple of quarters decent and just didn't finish the job."
A rebuilding season was to be expected considering the graduation losses off the 2002 and '03 teams that reached the Division 6 region championship. But falling to 3-7 ruffled the Jackets a bit because of the program's history -- 15-65 from 1994 to 2001, then 19-5 in 2002 and '03. Can OP, down for so long before the two-year uptick, sustain a winning program?
Tight end-linebacker Derek Ziese, linebacker Quillie Odom and running back Danny Mason -- all juniors -- will help determine that, along with other key players such as senior guards Tony Gray and Ben Harris.
Devin Thompson, who rushed for more than 1,800 yards the past two seasons combined, is not playing football this season.
Junior Ed Bohl and sophomore Aaron Lee are vying for the quarterback job. Osbourn transfer Torland Greene, a senior, will line up in a slot and could take some heat off senior Anthony Bratton, who led the area last season with 40 catches.
Battlefield Bobcats
As a first-year program with no seniors, Battlefield thrived in 2004, beating its last seven junior varsity opponents.
In some ways, the Bobcats might have been too successful, because it has heightened expectations to perhaps too-lofty proportions for their first varsity season.
