Photos: Centreville Defeats Oakton

Article by Ben Joyce, photos by Michael Noone

Is it too late for college recruiters to scout Ken Ekanem as a tight end?

The standout defensive end and one of the region's most sought after prospects caught four touchdowns to go with a typically dominant night on the other side of the ball, and Centreville routed Oakton 42-14. The win locks up the No. 2 seed in the Northern Region Division 6 playoffs and ensures two rounds of home field advantage. That second game is likely to be a rematch with the Cougars, but a potential rematch with Westfield in the final with a spot in the state tournament on the line is the ultimate goal. 

"It was the game that I thought it would be," head coach Chris Haddock said. "I knew they would be tough early. I felt it took us a little while to make some adjustments on offense, and once we did that we did a real nice job." 

Each team had a long touchdown in the early going but failed to do much else offensively for most of the first half. Oakton had a scary moment when defensive back and kicker Eric Goins injured himself on a second quarter field goal attempt. He stayed on the ground for several minutes and when he was helped off the field by coaches, he was unable to put any weight on his left knee. Goins was immediately missed, as Wildcats quarterback Mitch Ferrick started to find more success in his outside passing. One play after a pass interference call on third down moved Centreville into the red zone, Ferrick hit Ekanem from 14 yards out to put the Wildcats ahead for good.

Ferrick completed 15 of 21 passes for 180 yards, and his four touchdowns were a career high.

The third quarter was all Ekanem's, as Oakton struggled to keep its defense off the field. Shortly after Ferrick led a five minute drive that culminated in a 23-yard touchdown pass to Ekanem to start the third quarter, the athletic defensive end intercepted Masker, and then added another score from 14 yards out. Masker threw another pick on the ensuing drive, and Ferrick went right back to the short out route that was working so well for another 15-yard TD to Ekanem. That pushed the lead to 35-7, and Manny Smith was able to pound out yards on the ground to eat up clock in the fourth quarter, and broke another long run for a 50-yard touchdown.

"We just picked it up," Ekanem said. "I tried to score every time I touched."

Ekanem finished the night with five catches for 80 yards, the last four of which all went for scores. His list of college choices stands at Notre Dame, Oregon, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. Smith had 200 yards rushing, his highest total since going for 218 in the season opener against Lake Braddock. He has gone over the century mark in every game he's played this season.

Masker finally put the Cougars back in the end zone with about five minutes remaining when he found Kyle Downer for a 17-yard TD against the Wildcats' second-string defense.

Centreville opened the scoring when Smith took his first handoff - Centreville's second play from scrimmage - 56 yards to the end zone. The Wildcats managed just 14 yards of offense for the rest of the first quarter, and the Cougars evened the scored on the first play of the second quarter when Masker found Ryan Santoro for a 62-yard TD.

The potential rematch with Westfield is still three weeks away, and Haddock is confident the Wildcats won't overlook any opponent on the way there. While the official brackets have not been released yet, the Washington Post predicts Fairfax will be the Wildcats' first round opponent.

"Every week in the Concorde District you have to play well and you can't look past anybody," he said. "[The players] know we have to win on Friday, and then we'll worry about  next Friday and if we take care of business then we'll get there. They've kept their heads all year and I don't see that changing this week."

From Ekanem's reaction, it seems like avenging their only loss of the season - 13-10 in overtime - will provide more than enough motivation to get to the regional final.

"Our target it Westfield and states," he said. "We owe Westfield a beating. We want to see them again."