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Washington's best high school football teams credit coaching and youth development
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Griffis plans to move with his family into the Broad Run district.
"It's important to me you live in the community you teach in," Griffis said. "That's why we moved here."
Getting an early start
These areas aren't football hotbeds by coincidence. Youth leagues form a feeder system of talented players. And winning brings talented players from outside the area.
Two of the area's biggest and most successful youth leagues are the Ashburn Youth Football League and the Olney Boys and Girls Club.
"They have a good little pocket of feeders," said Good Counsel assistant coach Billy Goodman, who teaches math at Sherwood and is the baseball coach there. "Even in baseball, they've helped me out a lot, sending along kids with knowledge and skills."
Ashburn Youth Football President Troy Cromwell said his organization can barely keep up with demand. Despite expanding by nearly 30 percent in recent years with competing leagues sprouting up, the AYFL still waitlisted 70 players for the upcoming season.
River Hill's Van Deusen said more children are playing football at a younger age in the Clarksville area, partly spurred by the Hawks' success and partly because Howard County in 2004 installed lights at each school's stadium field, giving Friday night games a larger role in the community.
"When we were playing -- I grew up in Columbia -- so many people played soccer," Van Deusen said.
Consider that when Wayne Rositano was relocating his family from Orange County, Calif., three years ago, he studied academic and athletic programs before narrowing his choices to Westfield and Stone Bridge. Spenser Rositano, now a senior, will be a key part of No. 3 Stone Bridge's offense this fall.
"Most of the people that are moving in have really embraced the sport lifestyle," said Thompson, who continues to coach travel team baseball outside of football season. "When I was here, there was only one AAU team for baseball and basketball, and I coached it. Now there are a million travel teams. It's just the culture around here, with everybody getting their kids at a higher level of competition earlier."
Across the Potomac River, at Sherwood, standout wide receiver and defensive back Alex Cole moved from Powder Springs, Ga., in the spring of 2009 after his father became a preacher at Church of Christ in Olney. The Warriors were coming off a 14-0 state championship season.
"We were looking for the best fit," Alex Cole said. "You obviously want to go to a winning program, that's part of it. I also wanted to go to a place I could play and show what I could do."
Said River Hill assistant coach Tom Gruneberg, who has been part of a program that has gone 74-5 over the past five years: "It boils down to once you get a program in place, people want to be a part of it because they want to be a part of the success."
While the Ashburn schools have plenty in common, explaining the success of the Route 108 triumvirate is a bit more difficult, with public schools in two different jurisdictions and a private school that 3 ½ years ago moved its campus from Wheaton.
River Hill previously was a magnet school attracting students from throughout Howard County, but now, like most other public schools, including nearby Sherwood, it takes students living within its designated boundaries.
Good Counsel, on the other hand, is a private school allowed to recruit throughout the region. Some of its elite players come from as far away as Baltimore or Frederick to play for Milloy, who previously coached at Sherwood for nine seasons and is entering his 10th season at Good Counsel. The Falcons have won at least 10 games in five of the past six seasons and played in six consecutive WCAC championship games, but Milloy acknowledged that finally breaking through and winning a league title last year has made a significant difference.
"That made it a little easier to convince people to come to our school."
