The first time the Centreville Wildcats suffered a loss this season, when Westfield ended their undefeated season in Week 9, there wasn't a dry eye in the postgame team huddle. Friday night, after falling 30-13 in the VHSL Northern Region semifinal to Chantilly, the Wildcats greeted coach Chris Haddock, who returned to the huddle after shaking hands with Chargers coaching staff, with the hopeful look of students awaiting the next instructions from a sage teacher.

After all, this was the man who told them back in August he might be able to make a winner out of a team that had gone 3-7 the year before.

While a pair of big plays by a Chantilly team not known for quick strikes, combined with an inability to get any offensive rhythm going doomed Centreville and ended its season, the postgame Wildcats huddle was stoic and determined. More mature than a month ago. It seemed as if the players had taken something positive from the loss.

Chantilly (10-2) scored on a first-quarter, 56-yard run by junior tailback Jimmy Hicks and never trailed en route to a 17-point win. The Wildcats (9-3) did show some life later in the game, scoring on a five-yard run by junior Manny Smith to make it 17-7 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the Chargers answered right back on the first play of their next possession, as William Hill-Pensamiento took a pitch around the left side for a 65-yard score that iced the game.

"It was a little bit of a back-breaker," Haddock said. "If we stop them there and maybe punch another one in, everyone's a little bit tighter on that side and maybe we're feeling a little bit better. It definitely took the wind out of our sails, there's no question about it."

The junior tailbacks combined for 203 yards and four touchdowns to carry the Chargers into next Saturday's regional final, where they will face top-ranked Lake Braddock, which defeated Robinson 24-23.

The last time Centreville and Chantilly met, the game produced a double-overtime thriller. This time, Chantilly seemed to have a gameplan that neutralized the passing of senior quarterback Chance Roman and bottled up the inside running of Smith. Smith, who had more than 1300 rushing yards in the regular season, was only able to gain 19 yards on 9 first-half carries before finishing the game with 94 yards, a touchdown and a fumble on 20 carries. Roman struggled to connect with his receivers as well, and entered halftime with 37 yards and an interception on 4-of-10 passing.

"We didn't do anything that we should have done," Roman said. "We just didn't do the job right."

Haddock said he felt like his team just missed a few plays early in the game that could have gotten the Wildcats off to a better start.

"I thought in the first half we were close and then in the second-half we found some things, but we just couldn't tackle (them) and ultimately, we gave up too many big plays," Haddock said. "Against great teams, you can't be close, you've got to finish. We were close, and that wasn't quite good enough tonight."

Hicks said he and the Chargers channeled their disappointment from the regular-season loss into some useful motivation for the playoff game.

"They ruined our perfect season and that definitely hurt," he said after his 15-carry, 95-yard performance. "To lose by one point in double-overtime was very difficult. We knew all season we wanted to get another chance to play them, and we got it. And we capitalized."

Chantilly Coach Mike Lalli was also looking forward to another shot at the Wildcats, since he felt like his team made some correctable mistakes the first time around.

"We knew we could play well if we cleaned things up, didn't have the penalties that we had the first time and could control the passing game a little better," he said. "Did we think we would win by 17? No, but we felt like we could win."

As much as Haddock desired a win Friday night, he was able to appreciate the turnaround he initiated in his first year directing Centreville.

"I feel like this is a place where you can play for championships," he said. "We played for the conference title and we were one game away from playing for the regional championship. The kids are everything that I hoped they would be."

Before the season started, Haddock said, he thought the Wildcats could win six or seven games, so an 8-2 regular-season and a playoff win surpassed his expectations. Perhaps, he said, the change in the coaching staff helped some of the players take their game to a new level, and now that the team has tasted the playoffs, they'll be prepared to go deeper into the tournament next year.

"A lot of teams have got to get to one level and experience it before they can get to the next step. And I hope that we're going to be that team," he said. "We have 16 or 17 starters coming back. That's certainly a good foundation for next year. … We've got things headed in the right direction."

As the coach walked off the Centreville field for the final time this year, and came around the home bleachers towards the locker room, he received another greeting: at least 100 fans chanting "Haddock, Haddock, Haddock."



Box Score

Scoring Plays

First quarter

Chantilly: 9:21 - Hicks 56-yard run (Germain PAT)

Chantilly: 4:06 - Germain 33-yard field goal

Second quarter

Chantilly: 0:32 - Hill-Pensamiento 13-yard run (Germain PAT)

Fourth quarter

Centreville: 11:55 - Smith 5-yard run (Rondeau PAT)

Chantilly: 11:42 - Hill-Pensamiento 65-yard run (Germain PAT)

Chantilly: 7:15 - Hill-Pensamiento 17-yard run (PAT failed)

Centreville: Martin 20-yard run (2 pt. conversion failed)

Chantilly Statistics

Centreville Statistics