They lost the game on a walkoff field goal, but the young Oakton Cougars team believes it still made a big statement in defeat.
The visiting West Springfield Spartans defeated Oakton, 16-13, in non-district high-school football action Sept. 21. Oakton (2-2) had chances to win, including dropping a touchdown pass, missing an extra point and a blown coverage on a Spartan scoring pass, but the Cougars didn’t take advantage of those opportunities against a good West Springfield squad.
“There was more good than negative that came out of the game for us,” first-year Oakton coach Brian Slay said. “I think we proved with this game we can play close against anyone on our schedule. What we have to do now is stay laser-focused for a full four quarters. We can’t have lapses. Young teams like us will get better at that as the season goes on.”
Oakton is much improved from last season’s 1-9 team, which was blown out in many contests. They have played three close games this fall already.
Oakton sophomore quarterback Jack Martin had another productive game. He was 10 of 19 passing for 157 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for 54 yards and a TD.
Runningback Isaiah Coleman ran for 45 yards.
Ryan Henriques caught five passes for 87 yards and Deylen Jones caught two for 31, including a 21-yard scoring pass from Martin.
Jones also had a strong game on defense, making 10 tackles. Carson McCullough made 9.5 tackles with two assists, Jack Pregman had eight tackles and three assists and Henriques had five tackles, two for losses.
“I thought it would be October before our team hit its stride, so we are ahead of schedule,” Slay said.
Oakton begins its Concorde District schedule with its next game, playing the host and 1-3 Centreville Wildcats, Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. The Cougars haven’t won a district game since the 2017 season, losing 29 straight league contests. Their last district victory was over Chantilly in 2017.
