This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Looking at South County's Football Playoff Chances

Move to Division 5 should make the Stallions a feared team in the Northern Region

While the South County baseball team was making its way through the Northern Region playoffs last May, a missive from the Virginia High School League was sent out that directly affected the fortunes of the Stallions’ football team this fall. It may have been under the radar then, but it’s extremely important for the playoffs which begin Friday night.

The document showed South County had been dropped from Division 6 in the state’s AAA Northern Region to Division 5, meaning it would no longer compete in the same football playoff bracket with the county’s largest schools like Westfield and T.C. Williams. Instead of being one of the area’s smallest Division 6 teams, South County would be one of the largest in Division 5.

To complete the shuffle, Langley was dropped into Division 5, while Washington-Lee and South Lakes were moved to Division 6. The change is carried out by the state’s governing body every two years to ensure some kind of balance in the face of changing enrollments. In the case of South County, the difference of about 100 students meant the Stallions would be in a playoff bracket featuring Langley, Stone Bridge, Yorktown, McLean, Hayfield, Lee and Madison instead of one with schools like Lake Braddock, Chantilly, Centreville, Westfield and Robinson – all recent powers in AAA Division 6.

Find out what's happening in Lortonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While the Stallions don’t have a great history in the Division 6 playoffs – going 1-3 and never hosting a game – Division 5 might be wide open for them to continue their seven-game winning streak.

“We’ve won seven in a row,” said senior linebacker Devin Vandyke. “And I don’t expect that to end soon.”

Find out what's happening in Lortonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Division 5 playoffs feature five returning teams: Langley (which was in Division 6 in 2010), Yorktown, Hayfield, McLean and Stone Bridge -- the regional champion in 2010. Washington-Lee, which had made the playoffs in Division 5 last season, did not make the postseason this year.

When the list of schools came out last May, some coaches in the area presumed South County and Langley would earn two of the eight playoff spots.

“Last year, the National District took five teams out of eight spots, and I didn’t think that could happen this year with Langley and South County coming in and getting a spot,” said Edison coach Anthony Parker. “You add a couple of teams in there (with playoff histories) like Yorktown and Hayfield, there’s not much left.”

Jim Patrick, whose McLean team earned a playoff berth thanks to a 21-0 win over Langley last Friday, made a good point about the changing enrollments:

“It’s not that South County or Langley got much smaller, it’s that other schools got bigger and bumped them down. I don’t know if moving up or down makes that big of a difference, but South County’s playing really good football.”

Mike Pflugrath,  South County’s director of student activities, said he doesn’t think the change in divisions affected the school’s ability to reach the postseason, but the Stallions should have a better shot at advancing in Division 5.

“The schools we’re matched up with in Division 5 are obviously much closer to our enrollment. So the opportunities to advance in the playoffs are more equitable,” he said.

The Stallions recovered from an 0-3 start to finish with seven wins in a row -- including wins over Robinson and Lake Braddock -- two teams that made the Division 6 playoffs. Vandyke, who was a special teams player in 2009 when the Stallions defeated Westfield in the first round and lost to W.T. Woodson in the regional semifinals, said he doesn’t think there’s a huge difference between the talent among the top Division 6 and 5 schools.

“I think Stone Bridge could beat some Division 6 schools and so could Hayfield. We beat Robinson and Lake Braddock. I don’t think moving down divisions makes a difference for playoffs, but playing in a district with mostly Division 6 teams does,” he said.

If the Stallions beat Madison on Friday night, they're likely to face Stone Bridge, the region's Division 5 football power, so Vandyke will have a first-hand chance to see if his hypothesis is accurate.

South County plays in the Patriot District with Division 6 West Potomac, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, T.C. Williams, W.T. Woodson and Annandale, something former coach Pete Bendorf saw as an advantage when he helped make the schedule for the next two seasons before moving to his current position at Westfield.

“I was pretty sure it would be close, since we were the smallest school in Division 6 during the last cycle,” said Bendorf, who is now dean of students at Westfield and an assistant coach on the school’s undefeated football team. “We scheduled Robinson and Oakton and of course most of the Patriot District is Division 6. That’s schedule is pretty challenging. We knew they would be battle-tested coming into the playoffs.”

Bendorf recalled one of his teams from his days coaching at Oakton, when the Cougars barely made the playoffs in 2002, but ended up winning the Northern Region.

“The kids had been in such a competitive environment,” he said. “As the games ramped up, it was a normal Friday. I think that plays into Langley and South County’s favor.”

Bendorf said the benefits of South County’s tough schedule go back to August scrimmages against Hylton and Chantilly, two other playoff teams.

“They’re probably going to do some damage. I’d be surprised if they didn’t,” he said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?