One might have thought it likely that the Centreville High football team, following a dramatic overtime win over cross-town rival Chantilly on Oct. 15, would suffer an emotional letdown in its following game on Oct. 22 when the Wildcats hosted the Oakton Cougars in a late season Concorde District affair.
But that did not turn out to be the case at all as Centreville, celebrating its homecoming, took an early lead and never lost control on way to a 30-16 win over a talented Oakton squad.
"We felt like we might have played our best game against Oakton," said Centreville first year coach Chris Haddock. "They have some very talented players and we were very concerned about their high powered offense."
Centreville, which won a battle of unbeatens the week before in its Sully Bowl victory over Chantilly, improved to 8-0 with the win over the Cougars, who lost just their second game of the season to six wins.
Oakton trailed 10-0 after one quarter, 16-0 at the half and 23-0 in the third quarter.
Coach Joe Thompson's team scored its lone two touchdowns in the final quarter - the first on a pass from backup QB Tuck Masker (3-of-3, 39 yards) to Jordan Willetts from 10 yards out, and the latter on a pass play from starting signal caller Jimmy Boone (10-of-21, 119 yards) to Luke Willis from 18 yards out.
The Oakton defense could not slow down Centreville running back Manny Smith, one of the top backs in the Northern Region who rushed for 189 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. The Cougars did a good job in their pass defense, intercepting Wildcat quarterback Chance Roman (11-of-19, 133 yards, 1 TD) three times.
Oakton, 1-2 in district play, will be at home versus district opponent Robinson (6-2, 2-1) this Friday night before wrapping up the regular season the following week with a Nov. 5 home game against Chantilly. The Cougars will qualify for the eight-team region playoffs set to begin on Nov. 12. Centreville, 3-0 in the district, will be at Westfield this Friday night.