The two Northern Virginia private schools each have long rich histories, but until this week the varsity high-school football teams at Flint Hill and Bishop O’Connell had never met in competition.
The squads weren’t supposed to meet this season, either.
That changed Sept. 23 when each had games against other opponents canceled because of weather issues. Not wanting to lose a contest, that same day administrators and coaches from Flint Hill and O’Connell made contact and arranged for the teams to meet the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 25 in a non-conference contest.
Flint Hill (2-2) won on its home field, 32-3, taking advantage of four interceptions and five sacks to snap a two-game losing streak. O’Connell fell to 2-3.
“No way,” Flint Hill coach Kirk Peterson said when learning the teams had never met. “We were very excited to play them.”
First-year O’Connell coach Todd Sabatino also had no idea the teams had never squared off.
“Oh, wow,” he said.
The schools are located about 12 miles apart along the Interstate 66 corridor, O’Connell in Arlington and Flint Hill in Oakton. The schools have played in many other sports over the years, but never varsity football.
Leading Flint Hill’s offense in the win was runningback Andrew King and quarterback Caleb West. King ran for 118 yards and a touchdown (63-yard run). West completed 16 passes for 189 yards. He threw two touchdown passes of 35 and 32 yards to Victor McNeal (six catches, 106 yards) and had a one-yard scoring run. West also rushed for 37 yards and booted two extra points.
Josh Clarke had five catches for 67 yards for Flint Hill and Bryce Stewart two for 10. Kobe Davis had one catch for 11 yards and on defense returned an interception 45 yards for a score and broke up another pass.
Flint Hill led 20-0 at halftime.
“That was a nice win and probably our best game so far all the way around,” Peterson said. “We still have things we need to clean up.”
Clarke, Julian Amankwah (two tackles for losses) and Jeffrey Wells had Flint Hill’s other interceptions. Wells and Clarke also had sacks along with Anwar Smith and Bryce Stewart. Caleb Ihegihu was a standout on defense with two sacks and another tackle for a loss. Kariq Waters and Om Vataliya also had tackles for losses, Clarke and Stewart broke up passes and Matt Nakomto batted down another.
O’Connell’s points came on a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Fontenot, who at the end of the first half booted a 61-yard attempt straight as an arrow, but it fell five yards short. His 60-yarder hit the crossbar and bounced away in O’Connell’s previous game.
“I’m going to get one of those eventually,” Fontenot said.
O’Connell played two quarterbacks, with Henry Behrens coming off the bench to have some success, especially in the second half. He completed 10 passes for 137 yards and threw an interception.
“Henry got in there, scrambled around and extended and made some plays,” Sabatino said.
Aiden Munroe and Aidan Joseph each caught three passes, Zach Harrison two and Frank Johnson one for 36 yards. Nathan Harrison was O’Connell’s leading rusher with 12 yards.
On defense for O’Connell, Munroe broke up two passes and had an interception. A.J. Marable and Jack Digges had sacks.
“What I liked was we battled until the end even being behind,” Sabatino said. “That’s a signature of O’Connell football.”
NOTE: In those Sept. 23 contests, O’Connell was supposed to host Annapolis Area Christian School and Flint Hill was on the road in Alexandria against St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes.
