Sports

Heartbreaking Loss for Cougars in State Semifinal

The 41-17 loss ended Oakton High School's magical run into state playoffs.

Oakton High School's football team has created a lot of magical moments this season.

But Saturday's state semifinal game against L.C. Bird wasn't one of them, as the Cougars fell 41-17 against the undefeated powerhouse that will now face Ocean Lakes in the state championship game in Charlottesville.

Oakton ended the season with a conference record of 1-4, all four losses coming consecutively at the end of the regular season. But the team, dubbed the underdogs of the Northern Region playoffs, powered past all of their opponents in a turnaround that surprised many football fans across the state to make the state semifinal game. 

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The Cinderella story was no match for L.C. Bird' s runningback Paul Robertson, who had 421 yards in the Saturday afternoon matchup at Oakton High School.

Robertson opened scoring first, on an 87 yard run in the first quarter. Oakton senior Brian Burns responded with a 22-yard field goal, but L.C. Bird would score three more times in the first half-- two of them on 25 and 79-yard runs, respectively, by Robinson -- before the Cougars notched a touchdown, a one-yard run into the end zone by senior quarterback Kyle Downer.

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Robertson scored on a six-yard run to end the second quarter before Downer went on to score Oakton's only other touchdown on another one-yard run in the third.

It was followed by another Robertson touchdown (a 39-yard run), the last of the game.


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