Oakton Stymied by Centreville's High-Powered Defense

Oakton and Centreville entered the game against each other tied for second place in the Concorde District behind undefeated Westfield, who handed each of them their only losses of the season.

As the last game of the regular season, the Cougars needed the win to claim second place all to themselves.

But the Wildcats defense proved to be too much for the Cougars to overcome. The Wildcats intercepted quarterback Tuck Masker three times and held Oakton to less than 200 yards of total offense in 42-14 rout.

The loss locks Oakton into the No. 3 seed for the Northern Region AAA Division 6 playoffs and ensures at least one home game. The official brackets haven't been released yet, so the Cougars' first-round opponent remains unclear. If both Oakton and Centreville both win Friday, they will likely face each other the following week.

"We start back over at 0-0 just like everybody else," head coach Jason Rowley said. "It's a new season when the playoffs start. It's a ton of fun, we're excited about being here."

This game was not nearly as fun for the Cougars, who eventually succumbed to the stifling Centreville defense, led by one of the region's best players, Ken Ekanem. Ekanem had an early sack, added an interception and had four touchdown receptions, three of which came in the third quarter and allowed the Wildcats to pull away. He led a run defense that had seven tackles for loss and a pass rush that created four sacks and hurried Masker all night.

"They take away everything," Rowley said. "They're very good. They're the best defense we've played this year."

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 the 6-foot-2 Ryan Santoro, who outjumped and outran a Wildcat for a 62-yard touchdown.

Each team 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. Goins was immediately missed, as Wildcats quarterback Mitch Ferrick found more success in his outside passing. One play after a pass interference call on third down that moved Centreville into the red zone, Ferrick hit Ekanem from 14 yards out to put the Wildcats ahead for good.

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 touchdown to Ekanem. That pushed the lead to 35-7.

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.

Masker finally put the Cougars back in the end zone with about five minutes remaining when he found Kyle Downer for a 17-yard touchdown.