By Josh Barr and B.J. Koubaroulis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
3:57 PM
Flint Hill, which restarted its football program in 2003 and returned to a varsity schedule in 2004, will play Collegiate on Saturday in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division 1 championship game.
The Huskies, seeded fourth in the four-team tournament, advanced to the title game by beating Liberty Christian, 21-13, last week. The Huskies had lost 28-7 to Liberty Christian three weeks ago, but on Saturday they rode senior running back Arlandis Harvey (26 carries, 102 yards and a touchdown) to what Huskies Coach Michael Wright called a "monumental" victory.
"[Liberty Christian is] a terrific team and they stand for a lot and it's a team you measure your own team by," Wright said.
Liberty Christian, which won the tournament last season, had won 22 consecutive games.
Second-seeded Collegiate (8-1) is on a five-game winning streak during which it has outscored opponents by an average of 22.8 points. Collegiate has won VISAA Division 3 championships in four of the past five seasons.
"They've had terrific teams, this is not their first," Wright said.
Flint Hill has won seven of its past eight and is averaging 34.6 points per game behind the dual option attack of Harvey and senior quarterback Jovan Smith, who had two rushing touchdowns in last week's victory. The Huskies intercepted Liberty Christian four times Saturday and will face a similar wide-open air attack that Collegiate used to outscore Benedictine 49-19 last week.
"Everyone is just excited about the options and possibilities," Wright said.
Some of the Washington area's other top private school teams enjoyed similar success this season.
Landon won its 19th Interstate Athletic Conference title by beating St. Albans, 20-14, Saturday. Running back Jeff Izon, who missed most of last season because of an injury, rushed for a season-high 208 yards and two touchdowns as the Bears finished 9-1.
Landon Coach Rob Bordley was especially proud of his team's ability to beat McDonogh and Bishop McNamara, two teams that had beaten the Bears last season.
"We haven't won nine games in a long time," Bordley said.
Riverdale Baptist won the National Association of Christian Athletes Division I tournament, winning two games in three days, including a 23-7 victory over Christ Prep Academy of Kansas City, Kan., in the championship game on Friday.
Keith Hawkins rushed 17 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns in the victory, with Brian Burns added 123 yards on 11 carries. Burns also recovered a fumble and intercepted his fourth pass of the tournament. Linebacker Anthony Lucas had 15 tackles in the game and quarterback Gabe Johnson threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Paxton Queen.
Riverdale stopped a two-point conversion try in the fourth quarter of its 21-20 victory over Acadiana Prep of Opelousas, La., in the semifinals. Burns intercepted three passes in the victory, rushed twice for 47 yards and caught four passes for 97 yards. Johnson completed 8 of 15 passes for 159 yards with two interceptions and a five-yard touchdown pass to Alex Fletcher.
The Crusaders finished the season 8-2.
Model earned several postseason honors after winning the Capital Area Football Conference. Running back Sean Harden and linebacker Joshua Sandoval were named the league's offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively, while Mark Burke was named the league's coach of the year after going 7-3. The Eagles had gone 2-7 in 2007.
Seven Model players earned all-CAFC honors: quarterback Anthony Palmer, Harden (at running back and linebacker), center Andrew Daly, wide receivers Jason Marple and Cedrick Payne (who also made it as a linebacker), Sandoval and defensive lineman-linebacker Blake Immellmischo.
Palmer passed for 1,895 yards and 30 touchdowns, while Harden scored 21 touchdowns.
"I knew the team was for real after our first loss to Maret as we did play as a cohesive unit, something that was [not] done the year before," Burke wrote in an email. "Winning all three conference games was a high point as it showed we had domination and that our spread offense was coming together as we were putting up big numbers."
Maryland School for the Deaf also had a strong season, going 10-1 and winning its sixth consecutive deaf national championship as awarded by deafdigest.com. Running back Ryan Bonheyo, who has accepted a scholarship offer to play for Towson, rushed for 1,682 yards and 21 touchdowns for the Orioles, who finished 10-1, though their 34-14 loss to Reading (Pa.) Central Catholic snapped a 34-game winning streak.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.