A much-wanted victory came in week two of the football season for the Oakton Cougars under new head coach Brian Slay.
The former McLean High School defensive coordinator took over as Oakton’s leader this fall after the Cougars finished 1-9 last fall, losing their final seven games, all by lopsided scores.
The Cougars (1-1) rallied to defeat the host Fairfax Lions, 22-21, in non-district action Sept. 6. Oakton trailed 22-7 with just over eight minutes left in the contest. Oakton sophomore quarterback Jack Martin rallied the Cougars by throwing touchdown passes of 25, then five yards to freshman Collin Henriques, then tossed the winning two-point conversion pass to Henriques as well with less than 20 seconds to play.
After Fairfax received the ensuing kickoff, Henriques batted down a desperation pass on the final play of the game, and Oakton’s eight-game losing streak that covered two seasons was over.
“It was a good to get an early win and the players can feel good about that,” Slay said. “It gives us momentum and they can see and feel that now.”
Oakton lost badly to Fairfax, 41-0, last season and won just two games the season before.
After losing its opening game this fall, Oakton threw the ball more in its second. Martin responded by completing 24 of 28 passes for 280 yards for two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 45 yards and a TD.
“Jack had a really big bounce-back game after our first loss,” Slay said.
Oakton did not turn the ball over and was helped by four Fairfax turnovers.
Henriques caught five passes for 46 yards and Deylen Jones nine for 150. Brayden Vazquez had four catches for 31, Tim Volciak four for 30, Ryan Henriques one for 13 and Isaiah Coleman one for 10.
Evan Volciak kicked two extra points.
On defense for Oakton, Jones made 10 tackles, Carson McCullough made nine and had a big late-game pass breakup and Quinn Smith had eight tackles and forced a red-zone fumble.
Oakton has a chance to improve to 2-1 with a home game against the winless Woodson Cavaliers (0-2) on Friday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. That will be the team’s home opener. Oakton defeated Woodson for its lone win last season.
