Championship Game Is Moved Closer to Home

The Chantilly football faithful often break into 1950s hit "Chantilly Lace" when celebrating a Chargers triumph. At least once this Saturday the fans from Chantilly -- and Osbourn -- might want to duet on "Ken Tilley Lace."

Tilley, executive director of the Virginia High School League, has moved the Virginia AAA Division 6 football championship to a much more convenient venue for both schools. The game will be played at 1:30 p.m. at Freedom High School in Woodbridge instead of 170 miles away at Darling Stadium in Hampton.

Chantilly Athletic Director Terry Brown said he e-mailed Tilley on Saturday night to propose a venue change that would be beneficial for both finalists. Chantilly and Manassas school Osbourn are 11 miles apart, so asking fans to drive three hours to watch the teams play seemed unnecessary.

When Tilley received assurances yesterday from game organizers in Hampton that they were not too far along in their preparations to give up the championship, he began shopping for sites in Northern Virginia.

Freedom, with a seating capacity of about 6,000, is a bit larger than many high school stadiums in the area but is slightly smaller than Darling Stadium, Tilley said.

Osbourn Coach Steve Schultze said he visited the Freedom field yesterday and found it in "great" shape. Freedom AD Brad Qualls said his school will try to move its baseball and softball bleachers to the football field, or borrow bleachers from other schools, to provide additional seating.

"We're definitely excited about playing in front of our home fans and somewhere close to our area," said Schultze, whose team traveled to Virginia Beach last weekend for its semifinal game, a trip that cost about $8,000. "The bottom line is it just makes sense."

"It's going to be a little more comfortable for everybody," Brown said. "I had started thinking about it last week but didn't want to jinx anybody by looking ahead. I don't think a lot of people had us beating Varina or Osbourn beating Salem" in the semifinals.

This marks the second consecutive season that the Division 6 title game has been moved. Last year it was set for the University of Richmond, but with snow in the forecast, the game was rescheduled for Darling Stadium.

Because only one team from each of the state's four regions advances to the state football playoffs, it is unusual for two Northern Virginia schools to meet in an AAA final. But eighth-ranked Chantilly plays in the Northern Region, and No. 3 Osbourn plays in the Northwestern Region.

In other championships pitting Northern Virginia schools, Hylton beat Oakton in the 2002 Division 6 title game at the University of Richmond, and West Potomac won the 1990 Division 5 crown by beating Potomac on the Panthers' home field.