August 29 - As part of the All-Time Northern Virginia Top 10 feature, the magazine will be releasing short recaps of the nominated teams, grouped by the decade they played in. Teams that won state championships were automatically nominated, with current and former coaches from the area nominating non-state champions, bringing the list of total nominees to 60 teams. Once recaps of each of the 60 teams have been posted this week, the nominees will be turned over to a selection committee of current and former coaches from the area, who will select and rank the All-Time Top 10. The rankings will be revealed beginning the first week in September, with one team featured each week. Here are recaps for the the nominees from the 1980s:
1989 W.T. Woodson (23-1) - After dropping its second game of the season, the Cavaliers reeled off 22 consecutive wins, culminating with a 9-2 win over Cave Spring before a reported crowd of 2,379 in the Group AAA state final. Not bad for a program that had gone 7-13 the previous season and made one state tournament appearance in the previous 23 years. Coach Lee Knupp’s team broke through behind the likes of pitchers Mark Bouck, who went 10-0 with a 1.25 ERA, and two-way standout Doug Newstrom, who went 7-1 with a 1.66 ERA and hit .367 with seven homers and 41 RBI. Jason Cook hit .429 with 29 RBI and also recorded a 1.06 ERA and eight saves, while Charlie Kim hit .333 with 38 runs and T.J. Jones hit .338 with five homers and 32 RBI. During their winning streak, the Cavaliers handed rival West Springfield their only three losses that spring, including a 7-4 setback in the Northern Region championship game. West Springfield had handed W.T. Woodson its lone loss in that second regular season game.
1988 Potomac (21-5) - The Panthers claimed their second Group AAA state championship in six years behind a nucleus led by Mark Kingston, a first-team All-Met selection by The Washington Post who hit .461 with six homers and 24 RBI that spring. Coach Jerry Gardziel’s team beat Lake Braddock, 6-4, in the state final after winning Commonwealth District and Northwest Region titles. Pitcher Mark Overholt went 10-2 to anchor the staff, while Steve Robertson saved seven games during the postseason run. Kingston, who would later play at the University of North Carolina and play professionally for five years, is currently the head coach at the University of South Florida.
1987 Marshall (21-2) - Behind Pete Schourek, perhaps the most-dominant two-way standout the area has seen, the Statesmen rolled to a second consecutive Northern Region championship before falling in the Group AAA state final for the second straight season. Coach Dean Sissler’s team got 15 strikeouts from Schourek in that game but dropped a 4-2 decision to Mills Godwin, which finished its season 24-0. Lonnie Goldberg, who would later star at George Mason University and play professionally for five seasons, drove in the game’s lone run in a 1-0 win over E.C. Glass in the state semifinals after Schourek pitched a shutout in a 5-0 win over West Springfield in the region final. Steve Makranczy finished 8-1, earning the win in the state semifinals. Schourek posted back-to-back no-hitters to begin the season and won 24 straight decisions before taking the loss in the state final, finishing his season with 13 wins while hitting 11 home runs to pace the team’s offense. He struck out 314 batters and hit 21 homers over his final two prep seasons, was a second round pick of the New York Mets that June and pitched in the big leagues for 11 seasons, finishing second to Greg Maddux in the 1995 National League Cy Young Award voting.
1984 Park View (19-2) - The Patriots became the first Loudoun County team since Loudoun Valley in 1972 to win a state championship, beating Abington, 6-4, in the Group AA state final after claiming the district and region crowns. Coach Mike Nunnally’s team had a stellar pitching combination in Ron Griffith, who would later pitch at the University of Iowa, as well as Randy Boyer, who earned the win in the state final. Two-sport star Jeff Lageman, who would become an All-American lineman at the University of Virginia and play 10 seasons in the NFL, was the team’s top offensive threat, earning first-team All-Met honors by The Washington Post after hitting .422 with 24 RBI.
1983 Potomac (21-0-1) - The Panthers became the second team in state history to go undefeated en route to a state championship - Kempsville was the first in 1975 - claiming the Commonwealth District and Northwest Region championships before beating Warwick, 9-2, in the Group AAA state final. A dominating offensive team led by the Raley brothers, Dan and Tim, coach Jerry Gardziel’s team averaged 12.7 runs during 18 regular season games, when they eclipsed 10 runs on 10 occasions, and scored 19 or more runs five times. Their tie came in mid-April against Gar-Field in a game called due to darkness. Tim Raley hit .534 with nine homers and 42 RBI en route to All-Met Player of the Year honors by The Washington Post, and Dan Raley hit .565 and went 6-0 on the mound. John Oravec chipped in by hitting .349 with five homers and 25 RBI and had the game-winning hit to beat West Springfield in the state semifinals, while Bobby Patenaude helped Dan Raley anchor the staff, tossing a 2-hitter in the region semifinals against Pulaski. Doug Johnson and Bryan Luedtke each chipped in five homers for a team that would send nine players on to play collegiately at the Division I level. The Raleys would later team up again at Wichita State, with Tim earning first-team All-American honors in 1987.
1982 Bishop O’Connell (26-2) - The Knights ended Dematha Catholic’s run of four-straight Washington Metro Athletic Conference (now Washington Catholic Athletic Conference) championships, then came back to beat Bishop McNamara in the deciding game of the championship series, capping one of the best seasons in the program’s rich history. In coach Marshall (Jake) Jacobs’ final season, his team dropped just one regular season contest - the second game of a doubleheader against Washington-Lee - then won the fourth of five consecutive State Catholic Conference championships before beating McNamara in the best-of-three conference finals. The Knights were led by two-way standout Chris Katz, who went 11-0 with a 1.22 ERA and hit .374 with five homers and 35 RBI en route to earning first-team All-Met honors by The Washington Post. He was joined on the all-conference team by right fielder Kevin Kettner, who hit a two-run go-ahead homer in the fifth inning of the deciding game against McNamara, as well as second baseman Kenny Burch and shortstop Bill O’Malley.
1980 Robinson (18-7) - The Rams had five players who would play collegiately at the Division I level and two who would play professionally, but they were still underdogs during much of their postseason run to the lone state title in program history. Coach Bob Menefee’s team upset favored West Springfield, 4-3, in the Northern Region final and then beat Ferguson and pitcher Don Collins, who would be drafted 15th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals that June, 2-0, in the Group AAA state championship game. Mickey James and Kyle Zehring homered to lead the Rams past the Spartans in the region final, which at the time only advanced the winner to the state tournament. Then Tom Reed - who would finish with a program-record 20 career victories - tossed a shutout in the state final. Reed, shortstop Tony Simmerman, second baseman Kevin Fitzgerald, Scott Weber and pitcher John Jett all later played Division I ball at the next level, while Fitzgerald and pitcher Steve Caito played professionally for the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers systems, respectively.
1980 George Mason (22-1) - The Mustangs won the first of five consecutive district championships, the first of three region championships in four years and capped the season with a 7-0 win over Martinsville in the state final in their final season as a Group AA school before dropping a classification to Group A. Coach Jack Gambrill’s program was in the midst of a 53-game home winning streak from 1978-83 when left-hander Bob Tuthill, the cousin of Madison great Jay Franklin who would later play in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ system, led them to the only state title in school history. Tuthill earned the win in all four games during the region and state tournaments, starting three of them and coming on in relief in the region final against Western Albermarle. He would finish the season 16-1, and graduated the following spring with a program-record 34 victories. Steve Clinton, who would play at the College of William & Mary, also played a key role for the Mustangs, as did three all-region performers in first baseman Jim Crowley, third baseman Dennis Higdon and catcher Duane Morrison. Gambrill won 252 games in 23 seasons from 1963-85.
All-Time Northern Virginia Top 10 Nominees:
2010s (10) - 2016 Chantilly; 2015 Madison; 2015 Stone Bridge; 2014 Loudoun Valley; 2012 Lake Braddock; 2012 Paul VI Catholic; 2011 South County; 2010 West Springfield; 2010 Woodbridge; 2010 Potomac Falls
2000s (14) - 2009 Paul VI Catholic; 2009 West Springfield; 2008 Paul VI Catholic; 2007 Notre Dame Academy; 2007 Paul VI Catholic; 2006 Notre Dame Academy; 2005 Notre Dame Academy; 2004 Notre Dame Academy; 2004 Westfield; 2004 Paul VI Catholic; 2003 Madison; 2002 Madison; 2000 Oakton; 2000 Courtland
1990s (14) - 1998 West Springfield; 1998 Bishop O’Connell; 1997 St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes; 1996 Herndon; 1995 Courtland; 1995 Brentsville District; 1994 Paul VI Catholic; 1993 Lake Braddock; 1992 Gar-Field; 1992 West Springfield; 1991 West Springfield; 1991 Broad Run; 1991 Fairfax; 1990 W.T. Woodson
1980s (8) - 1989 W.T Woodson; 1988 Potomac; 1987 Marshall; 1984 Park View; 1983 Potomac; 1982 Bishop O’Connell; 1980 Robinson; 1980 George Mason
1970s (5) - 1978 Robinson; 1976 Mount Vernon; 1972 Loudoun Valley; 1972 Washington-Lee; 1971 Madison
1960s and earlier (9) - 1968 Madison; 1966 Washington-Lee; 1964 Bishop O’Connell; 1952 Mount Vernon; 1951 Washington-Lee; 1949 Washington-Lee; 1947 George Washington; 1939 Lee-Jackson; 1932 Alexandria
Pictured, clockwise from top left: The 1983 Potomac team, Park View's Randy Boyer, Potomac's Mark Kingston, the 1982 Bishop O'Connell celebrates Kevin Kettner's conference-championship clinching homer, Robinson's Kevin Fitzgerald, and longtime Robinson coach Bob Menefee.
