Who would have thought that in the last game of the regular season that it would be several firsts that would prove to be so significant?
And none of those firsts were any more significant then the one that came at the conclusion of the game. By defeating Kingsbury High School 27-16 Friday night, the Manassas Tigers became district champions for the first time in the history of the school. Congratulation Tigers, you are the CHAMPIONS! The team left the stadium sporting their new district champs t-shirt.
On a night set aside to honor the seniors, it was a freshman that got things going for Manassas. On the opening kickoff, Kingsbury fumbled. James Fisher scooped it up and went 37 yards down the sideline for his first score of his high school career. So 8 seconds into the game, the Tigers were up 7-0. That play would be representative of how the night would be. Due to all the rain we have had, the field was torn up, muddy and wet. Keeping your footing and holding onto the football would prove to be a difficult task. The first half would end with the Tigers clinging to their 7-0 lead.
The second half of the game took on a playoff atmosphere as the Tigers and Falcons were fighting for the district championship and improved seeding in the upcoming playoffs. For a while during the 3rd quarter it looked like Kingsbury had seized control of the game and were going to put an end to the Tigers dream of being district champs. During a 5 minute stretch of the quarter, the Falcons would score 16 points to go up 16-7. Both of these the result of poor special teams play by Manasass. Kingsbury took a punt back 83 yards for the score thanks to many missed tackles along the way. On the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers would turn the ball over with a fumble around their own 40 yard line. Kingsbury drove the ball for their second score of the quarter.
The Tigers could have rolled over and died at that point. Instead they showed a lot of heart and fight to dominate play the rest of the game. It started with a nice sustained drive capped off by a 6 yard run by quarterback Will Redmond. The extra point was blocked and the Tigers were down 16-13 going into the 4th quarter.
On a drive early in the fourth quarter, Redmond got hurt on a keeper. So the Tigers turned to last years quarterback and senior caption Terrance Oliver. T.O would only need to be in for one play to have an impact on this game. Calling his own number, Terrance went around right end and weaved his way down the sidelines 73 yards to put the Tigers back on top. The two point conversion by Omar Williams put the Tigers up 21-16.
On the ensuing Kingsbury drive, it would be a defensive unit that has played well all season to come up with a huge play to seal the victory. Knowing they had Kingsbury on their heals, the Tigers turned up the pressure. Senior linebacker Dantre Harris came flying across the line to put pressure on the Falcons quarterback. Looking to dump a pass out in the flat, Dantre reached up and deflected the pass into the waiting arms of senior defensive end Julius Parson. 59 yards later, Julius would have his first interception return for a touchdown and the Tigers would have themselves a district championship.
For the night, the defense held the Falcons to only 6 first downs and 130 yards of offense.
Senior night for the Tigers also meant not forgetting about a key member of the squad. Starting offensive lineman Montrail Brown went down earlier this season to a knee injury. While he wasn’t able to play in the last regular season game of his high school career, he was not forgotten. Fellow senior offensive lineman Julius Martin honored his friend by wearing Montrail’s #54 jersey.
So the Tigers now prepare themselves for their second season. And as T.O told his team during the post game meeting, they are only 2/3 of the way to their goal. Five more wins and the Tigers will be state champs. And yes, that would also be the first of those for the Manassas High School football team. In order to get that prize, the Tigers will be working hard to shore up special teams play and to reduce the number of turnovers they make. They know that playing like they did on Friday night will not be good enough to hoist the trophy on December 4.
The Tigers second season begins this Friday night with a first round playoff game against Martin Westview. Game time is 7:00 PM at BTW Stadium. The boys have worked hard to get to this point, come on out and cheer them on to victory.