A few matches into the Northern Virginia Scholastic Ice Hockey League, the Herndon/South Lakes club team leads the Adams Division with a 4-0 record, with the multiple-time defending champion Langley Saxons at 4-1 with a four-match winning streak.
Also in the division, the Madison Warhawks are 2-2, the Oakton Cougars 2-3 and the McLean/Chantilly high-school squad 1-3. Langley and Herndon/South Lakes meet later in the season.
In the final stages of the fourth quarter, the Marshall Statesmen boys basketball team held a five-point lead and appeared poised to improve to 4-0.
Then the visiting Statesmen hit a couple of late-game bumps in the road, resulting in a 59-53 overtime road loss to the Lake Braddock Bruins (1-2), who won for the first time this high-school season.
Finally, the Lake Braddock Bruins won a close basketball game.
After opening their season with two- and three-point losses, the boys high-school team rallied to win a tight contest by defeating the visiting Marshall Statesmen, 59-53, in overtime in non-district action Dec. 10.
Players from the Concorde District and region champion Madison Warhawks were among those chosen to the all-6D North Region football team
Madison had three first-team selections on offense with one on second team, and six first-teamers on defense.
With two individual champions and 14 wrestlers scoring points, the Westfield Bulldogs won the annual season-opening NOVA Classic.
The two-day event with more than 30 high-school teams was held Dec. 6 and 7 at Fairfax High School.
They started slow and fell behind early, but by game’s end the Robinson Rams had rallied and were still undefeated in girls high-school basketball action.
Host Robinson (4-0) defeated the Washington-Liberty Generals, 36-29, Monday night (Dec. 9) in a non-district game in Fairfax. The Generals, who were without injured starting center Eve Jungman, fell to 1-2.
The Langley Saxons and Potomac School Panthers had recent mixed results against opponents that were top teams in girls state basketball tournaments last season.
Langley (2-1) defeated the visiting Woodgrove Wolverines (0-1) of Purcellville, 59-54, as Anya Rahman scored 31 points with two steals.
It was an unwanted déjà vu situation all over again that proved costly for the Lake Braddock Bruins in the team’s state-semifinal football game against the Madison Warhawks.
Just like during an early regular-season game against the Warhawks, the Bruins fell behind 21-0 again in the Dec. 7 Virginia High School League Class 6 state-tournament semifinal, and never caught up.
A key reason for the undefeated Madison Warhawks’ 2024 success has been the team’s ability to build early leads — often large ones — in football games.
The Warhawks (14-0) have trailed in just three games this season. The squad rallied to win each, two by blowouts.
Will the third time be the charm for the Madison Warhawks in the football team’s quest to win its first state championship?
Next Saturday (Dec. 14) in Harrisonburg, Madison will play in a state-title game for the third time in four years, having been defeated in its 2021 and 2022 appearances.
