The Celtics and Lakers, the Bears and Packers, the Red Sox and Yankees. What do these teams have in common with each other? They would rather die than let the other one beat them. The people of Prince William County have their own incredible sports rivalry, Gar-Field and Woodbridge football. After years of dormancy, this rivalry came back in a big way on the biggest stage, for a district championship. To fully understand the scope of the game, you need to understand the rich history of hatred that these two schools have with one another.
In 1954, a local businessman named Grover Manderfield donated 20 acres of land to Prince Willaim County. This plot would be used to build Gar-Field high school and ten years after that, Woodbridge Senior High school would be built. These two schools were destined to clash. For almost 20 years, these two were the only high schools on the East side of the county and in 1972 both schools would get new buildings and locations. These buildings would be mirroring images of each other built just three miles from one another. With all these similarities and their proximity, the feud only grew stronger, with students from both schools wanting to prove which one is better. What better way to do that than on the football field.
Woodbridge vs. Gar-Field football games quickly became a county-wide event, with thousands of students from both schools pouring into the stands to see if their team would win. With the teams being evenly matched for most years, the rivalry grew and grew. Eric Keehan, a graduate of the class of ’94, when asked about the rivalry said that “the games were intense” and that Woodbridge “really wanted to beat them” every time they played. He added that “people used to wear letterman jackets around Woodbridge” and that it was “really fun to see somebody in a Gar-field jacket if we (Woodbridge) recently beat them” and those bragging rights have kept the rivalry going strong to this day. Sufficed to say, these schools have a long history of not getting along with one another.
That brings us back to this season, which has been quite interesting for both teams. Woodbridge started off with a record of 1 win and 3 losses, most people wrote the Vikings off, but they didn’t write back. The Vikings with their backs against the wall and season on the line would pull off a dominant 51-point victory over Hylton. This would spark a fire in the team that would carry them to a five-game winning streak, polished off with a 21-point win over Potomac. With a spectacular 6-3 record, Woodbridge still came into the game as underdogs. Despite this, Woodbridge came into Gar-Field’s stadium hungry as ever, fueled by the years of rivalry, the opposing crowd, and the doubt many people cast about their potential victory, the Vikings went on a wolf hunt.
Woodbridge obliterated the Red Wolves 22-7 on the road in a line-to-line dominant performance for their first district championship since 2009. The team was firing on all cylinders, Mark Crunkilton had an exceptional defensive performance, causing a safety on Gar-Field. Freshman Marquece Sharpe had 188 all purpose yards and two scores on the ground, a truly dominant day at the office for the first-year player. The passing game was solid too, with a sophomore connection between Denari Hill and James Shaw resulting in a touchdown through the air.
When asked how the win felt, Captain Bryce Kham said that the win “felt good” and that “it was great to make history”. The team now looks ahead to their first playoff game since 2017 against North Stafford. Win-or-lose, this team is made up of some of the hardest working people you will ever meet, and they have had an amazing season. As a school, all we can do is rally behind them and support them in their hardest challenge yet.
