Woodbridge and Osbourn are no strangers to each other

Keith King will likely look across Woodbridge’s football field to the visiting sideline at some point tonight and see a familiar team in Osbourn. Not because the Vikings and Eagles already faced one another this year, but for the fact that Osbourn’s circumstance so closely mirror’s Woodbridge’s of a year ago.
“I think we’ve talked a lot about Osbourn being Woodbridge from last year,” King said of discussions with Viking players and fellow coaches alike. “We started with a lot of injuries last season and when we got healthy we made a good run.”
That run lasted all the way to the Group AAA Division 6 state final of course, despite entering the postseason with an unimposing 6-4 record. Then the Vikings benefitted from the dynamic running of De’Antwan Williams who virtually carried his team past Battlefield, Gar-Field and Hermitage, all road games.
Osbourn (7-4) reached the playoffs this year as the fourth seed in the Northwest Region and similarly bounced favorite Battlefield. The Eagles have won four straight games coming into tonight’s region final, much of it due to their own game-changer in the backfield, Jerrell McFadden.
McFadden has 944 rushing yards to go with 12 scores on the ground, but he is also the Eagles No. 1 kick and punt returner, accumulating 286 return yards. In addition, McFadden has caught 17 passes for 178 yards and with 78 points is the area’s second-leading scorer behind Woodbridge’s Williams.
“(McFadden) is a super athlete,” King said. “He’s an excellent football player on both sides of the ball. They can play him at receiver, running back, quarterback; he can run the single-wing. He’s an all-around threat. We have to be aware of where he is at all times.”
To overlook Osbourn would mean making the same mistakes higher seeds made against his own team last year and King is not going to let his players fall into the trap of looking beyond the game in front of them.
“It’s just been a matter of how we were playing,” Osbourn coach Steve Schultze said. “We think we’ve shored things up. We’re a better team and we’re playing better football.”
For the Eagles, playing the underdog is a different role than they’re used to. Osbourn made the playoffs for the third time in the last four years, a run that includes two region final berths and a state title.
“We like that underdog label,” Schultze said. “That’s the kind of town Manassas is. That underdog feeling is a great challenge. And that’s why some teams get upset, they’re looking beyond the next game.”
But make no mistake, with Williams in the backfield and first-year starter Frank Buckley under center for Woodbridge (11-0), Osbourn is certainly the underdog.
Williams has rushed for 31 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards, but it is the offensive balance the Vikings lacked last year that truly makes them dangerous. Buckley has given Woodbridge one of the area’s best aerial attacks, throwing for almost 1,500 yards, 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions on 57 percent passing.
“They’re a great football team and they’ve been able to do both (run and pass),” Schultze said. “And their defense is getting stops, creating short fields. We need to keep the ball away from their offense and we can’t afford to give up the big play.”
Osbourn has already ruined three teams’ chances at undefeated seasons this year, beating Liberty, Fauquier and Battlefield when those squads entered their contests with no losses. And despite a 31-3 loss to the Vikings in their third game of the season, the Eagles are confident the second time around.
“We’re going to be strapped up for this game and we’re up for the task,” Schultze said. “I think everybody here thought we had a great opportunity to beat Battlefield and we feel we have the same chance this week.”