On a beautiful fall evening in front of a packed home crowd, the 10-0 Oakton Cougars hosted the South County Stallions in the first round of the Northern Region AAA Championships.  It’s playoff time with the winners advancing and the losers going home.

The Cougars wanted to start fast.  They won the coin toss and elected to receive and put their potent offense on the field first.  It didn’t take long for the Cougars to score, rolling down the field covering 85 yards in 10 plays, 5 of which were first downs.  Trey Watts ran the final 7 yards around right-end behind a path clearing block from Nick Koutris for the touchdown.  Ray Goins extra-point kick was good and Oakton was on the board, 7-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Sean Schnitzer set the tone for how the Cougar special teams would play for the evening, as he absolutely crushed the Stallion kick-returner at the South County 15-yard line.  Not to be outdone, the tough Cougar defense took the field and only allowed two South County plays before Joey Kopfman intercepted an errant South County pass near midfield giving the ball back to the Oakton offense.  The Cougars would only need 7 plays to find the end zone this time.  Key plays on the drive were Chris Coyer passes to Trey Watts for 31 yards and to Jay Young for 11 yards.  Watts ran around right end again from 4 yards out for the touchdown.  Goins kick made the score 14-0, Oakton. 

The Cougar defense forced punts on the next two South County possessions.  The Stallion defense tightened up and held the Cougars to punts as well.  The first quarter ended 14-0, Oakton.  Midway through the second period, a Stallion receiver got behind the Cougar defense for a 41-yard touchdown pass closing the score to 14-7.  The Cougar offense couldn’t get anything going the entire second period and the score at the half remained 14-7, Oakton.

After some halftime adjustments, the Cougars kicked off to start the second half.  All year long, the Cougars have come out playing fast and furious in the third quarter.  Tonight was not different.  The pumped-up Cougar defense held the Stallions to three-and-out and forced a quick punt.  Kevin Culkin had a crushing tackle on third down to force the punt.  The recharged Cougar offense returned to the field and promptly marched 67 yards in 7 plays for the touchdown.  Jonathon Meadows carried the ball the final 5 yards untouched around right end for the score.  Big plays on the drive were back-to-back runs by Chris Coyer for 20 yards and Meadows for 32 yards.  Ray Goins drilled the ensuing Oakton kick-off into the South County end zone.  The Cougar defense again limited the Stallions to three plays and forced a punt.  On the punt attempt, Sean Schnitzer raced in and blocked the South County punt into and out of the end zone for a safety and two more points for the Cougars.  Oakton 23 – South County 7.

Oakton would take the ensuing free kick and begin play from their own 36-yard line.  On the first play, Coach Thompson called the most entertaining play of the evening.  Chris Coyer lined up in shotgun formation.  Ryan Harris went in motion to his left and received the handoff in what appeared to be a sweep.  Halfway, Harris lateralled to Trey Watts who was running in the opposite direction in what appeared to be the classic double reverse only Watts pulled up and threw a perfect 25-yard strike to Coyer who had snuck down the field for the pass completion.  The Cougars continued their drive down the field to the 7-yard line.  On fourth down, Jonathon Meadows took the handoff and ran into the end zone for his second and the Cougars fourth touchdown of the evening.  Goins kick made the score 30-7.  The Cougars scored 16 unanswered points as the third quarter ended.

The fourth period opened with a South County aerial assault.  The Cougar defense was able to withstand the bombs for the most part but South County was able to put one more touchdown on the board.  Jon Hart smothered the extra point try. The Cougars held on and Kenny Hanson made one last interception as the game ended, final score Oakton 30 – South County 13.  With the win, Oakton moves on to host West Springfield next Friday evening at 7:30 in Round 2 of the Regional Championships.

For the evening, the Cougars had 307 yards rushing on 44 carries and 100 yards passing.  Chris Coyer led all rushers with 119 yards on 15 carries.  Jonathon Meadows added 101 yards and 2 TDs and Trey Watts added another 85 yards and 2 TDs.  Chris Coyer was 6 for 11 passing for 75 yards.  Trey Watts led the team in receptions with 2 for 44 yards and Jay Young added 2 receptions for 20 yards.