Gar-Field honors 1990 state championship football team

They were an unheralded group coming off a season where they went winless in the Commonwealth District and won only two games overall. Playoff appearances, district titles, even a winning record. Those accomplishments belonged to the heavyweights at the time, teams like Potomac, Woodbridge and Fauquier.

Gar-Field? They were an afterthought.

And yet, by the end of the season, the Indians’ 1990 football team became the unlikeliest of champions after earning the distinction of being the first prep football team from Prince William County to win a state title.

The recipe for success was embedded in a team-first philosophy espoused by an experienced coaching staff and bought into by a devoted and hungry team of selfless players looking for a fresh start.

Tom Gryder was a freshman that year playing varsity football at Stonewall Jackson, but he remembers that Gar-Field team and its amazing run. 

Twenty years ago, the Indians put together one heart-pounding victory after another until they had done the unthinkable and gone in a single season from worst to first.

To honor that feat, Gryder, who is now Gar-Field’s head coach, decided to reach out to the 1990 team and bring them back together Friday when the Indians host Potomac at 7:30 p.m. in both team’s regular-season opener.

An estimated 30 former players and coaches are expected to show up for the festivities that will begin with a tailgate party out in the parking lot and then carry over into halftime where the team will be introduced on the field.

“That team was so memorable to me,” Gryder said. “I think you have to show respect toward that. It’s good in regards to our community to give back and do something that’s bigger than ourselves.”

Since school is still out of session and only a handful of area high school teams are opening play Friday, Gryder thought tonight would be the best time to put this all together.

Plus, the opponent is Potomac, a long-time rival of the Indians who also competed for a state title in 1990, losing to West Potomac in the Division 5 final.

To help spread the word, Gryder enlisted the services of two former members of that team, Jason Lockamy, who assists Gryder at Gar-Field, and Steve Madison, who is the defensive coordinator at Woodbridge.

Thanks to word of mouth as well social networking sites like Facebook, they were able to generate a favorable response.

Madison, who was a sophomore on the 1990 state championship squad, said most of those coming Friday still live in the region.

“I was too young and dumb at the time to appreciate what we accomplished,” Madison said. “But I’m proud of it. We were the first one and it was a special, special year.”

Before 1990, only four teams from Prince William County had ever reached a final: Woodbridge (1974), Gar-Field (1977), Manassas Park (1986) and Potomac (1989).

In the case of the three Group AAA teams, all of them were loaded with Division I prospects.

The 1990 Gar-Field team, though, was not a team filled with blue-chip talent. In fact, no player off that team signed with a Division I program after high school.

Instead, they were an undersized, no-nonsense group of boys who provided a textbook example of what can happen when coaches and players are on the same page and develop an unbreakable bond.

The Indians were led by Chuck White, a former Woodbridge standout who was hired in the spring of 1989 by Gar-Field after turning around another program in Baltimore.

The Indians took their lumps White’s first season, but it was clear that he was on a mission to recharge a dormant program. And the first step started with his staff.

White brought in as his defensive coordinator, Jim Hall, a long-time coach who retired from Gar-Field this past school year.

Chuck Robinson, who was Gar-Field’s head coach from 1979-1984 and directed the Indians to a 10-0 record in 1981, and Marty Riddle, who would go to be a head coach himself and is currently the athletic director at Robinson High School, were also on that staff.

Gar-Field’s success also hinged on the play of clutch performer LaTroy Askew who constantly delivered the right play at the right time.

It was Askew who scored the lone touchdown in a 7-0 season-opening win over defending Division 6 state champion West Potomac.

It was Askew who scored on a then-regional record 96-yard run to break a 7-7 tie and give the Indians an eventual 14-7 win over Fauquier.

And it was Askew who returned an interception 30 yards with 21 seconds left to seal a 20-13 come-from-behind win over Highland Springs in the state semifinals.

After the victory, in which the Indians scored 18 points in the game’s final six minutes, Gar-Field fans flooded the field and carried Askew off on their shoulders.

White was so pumped after that win that when he walked into the Gar-Field gym he jumped up and grabbed the rim of one of the basketball hoops. He was on such a high and it was well deserved.

White loved to fire up his team any way he could. After the win over Fauquier in the region final, White took his players out to the middle of the Gar-Field field and, standing in the center of the circle, led them in up-downs.

The move was a response to Fauquier, who had done the same thing to Gar-Field when it defeated the Indians in overtime in the regular season in Warrenton.

“We did those all week at practice,” Madison said in preparation for the rematch with Fauquier. “It was pretty cool.”

Things like Askew’s score became typical as so many unsung heroes stepped in and made the crucial play or sacrifice. There was Alfred Toole’s blocked punt late in the fourth quarter against Highland Springs. Or center Stan Fissel whose back hurt so much in the postseason he could barely move at times and yet come game time gave everything he had.  The list goes on and on.

“A lot of the kids were tough and hard-nosed,” Madison said. “They worked hard for it.”

Gar-Field played at Hampton for the state title, winning 13-12 over the most successful high school program in the state, to finish with a 12-2 record.

To commemorate Friday’s event, Madison said that he dug up his old championship ring that he keeps tucked away. The ring doesn’t fit as well as it did 20 years ago, but he’s still wearing it Friday.

Madison said a former player who is in the T-shirt making business is supposed to come and have special shirts for the team, which has not come back together since 1990.  

Now that he’s a coach himself, Madison likes to refer to that 1990 season as a source of motivation. He doesn’t use it often since it was so long ago and the players have no point of reference. But regardless of the passing of time, Madison’s message is still on point in trying to convey to his kids that anything is possible if the right attitude is in place.

“It’s not just about all the talent,” Madison said. “It’s about hard work with having one goal in mind.”

 Sports editor David Fawcett can be reached at 703-530-3911 or at dfawcett@insidenova.com