Briar Woods’ Fourth Championship Run Comes Up Just Short

Briar Woods soared to an impressive 21-6 halftime lead in Saturday’s Division 5 state football championship. But four straight state titles proved to be just out of reach for the Falcons, who fell to the L.C. Bird Skyhawks in Charlottesville 36-28.

The team took well to a move up in division and will certainly continue to be a powerhouse in the future. All of the seniors will be missed next year, but the graduation of Trace McSorley will be a particularly key loss. McSorley has served as true team leader. In 2010, when star running back Michael Brownlee broke his leg on the first play of the season opener, a great deal of responsibility fell on the shoulders of McSorley, who as a freshman took the team to its first state title.

On Saturday, Briar Woods’ defense dug in and kept the team in the lead, 21-14 after the third quarter. But the Skyhawk offense pulled out a stunning fourth quarter, outperforming the Falcons 22-7 in that quarter alone.

Briar Woods had the ball on their own 41-yard line with a little more than 4 minutes left in the game and trailing by 8. A pass interference call put them on the Skyhawk 44-yard line.

McSorley ran for another 6 yards, but a holding penalty pushed the team back to the 48. McSorley pushed the team to the 40-yard line on another run, but that’s as far as they would go. On 4th and 6, McSorley lofted a pass that would not find its target.

Bird took over with a little more than 3 minutes left and successfully ran out the clock and grabbed the big trophy.

Congratulations to the Falcons for another hard-fought season!

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