Leesburg, Va. — For the first time in program history, the Loudoun County High School boys basketball team is headed to the VHSL Class 4 State championship. But, for the Captains, the path to Richmond had its challenges, including, most recently, their fifth matchup of the season against rival Loudoun Valley.
In front of a sold out crowd in Leesburg, the Captains quickly fell into a hole, but—like they had done in the region championship game a week before—they clawed their way back, before taking the lead heading into the half.
“It’s a huge rivalry, and they’re great competitors,” Loudoun County senior shooting guard Brendan Boyers said. “They always give us a tough time.”
Loudoun County surrendered the lead just once in the second half, before junior guard Braxton Griffin finished on an acrobatic and-one to retake the lead from which they’d never look back as the Captains held off the Vikings, 50-40, on March 7 in Leesburg to earn their spot in the state title game.
“I’m in disbelief. It’s almost like ‘is this really happening?’,” Loudoun County head coach Mark Alexander said. “This season has had so many challenges, but when it’s time to make plays, guys just stepped up.”
[adrotate banner=”53″]Midway through the first quarter, the Captains took a blow when Boyers landed awkwardly after being fouled and had to be carried off the court.
But Boyers would make his emphatic return early in the second quarter, when he dribbled the ball across half court, pulled up, and drilled a three to cut what had been an 8-point deficit earlier in the game to just three.
“It was crazy,” Boyers said. “These guys are like my brothers, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to do it with.”
From there, Loudoun Valley sophomore shooting guard Jayden Johnson got hot to eventually re-extend the Vikings’ lead to 19-11 late in the second quarter. But that lead was not safe as Loudoun County juniors Joey Fitzpatrick, Zach Hensch, and Jack West quickly cut the deficit to just 1 with less than a minute to play in the first half.
As Loudoun Valley looked to hold for the last shot of the half, Hensch corralled a deflected pass and tossed a lob over the top to West, who finished at the buzzer, to give the Captains a 20-19 lead heading into the half.
Coming out of the half, the Captains continued to spread their scoring around as junior forward Nick Alexander scored his first bucket of the night to extend the Loudoun County lead to 3.
While there were moments when it looked like the Captains might pull away, Johnson never let his Vikings get out of striking distance as he made tough shot after tough shot, eventually giving Loudoun Valley the lead on a tough, turnaround jumper with 1:20 left in the third.
That Vikings’ lead, however, was short-lived as two possessions later, Griffin took his man off the dribble and finished at the rim, while getting fouled to take the lead.
“Brax is a great player. He’s tough as can be, and he’ll take anyone to the rack,” Alexander said. “He doesn’t get all the first team reps, but he works hard and played great tonight.”
Entering the fourth with a 33-29 lead, the Captains relied on their free throw shooting down the stretch, knocking down eight of their final ten attempts at the charity stripe.
In a 5-point game with less than two minutes to play, Loudoun County held the ball and forced Loudoun Valley to foul to stop the clock as Hensch made his way to the free throw for the first time all season with a one-and-one opportunity and the chance to make it a three possession game. And as cool as he’d been all night, Hensch hit nothing but net on both of his attempts to increase the Captains’ lead to 44-37.
“Zach is always ready to go, and he’s such a competitor,” Alexander said. “He hadn’t shot a free throw all year, and then he swishes two with less than two minutes left in the state semifinal. That says something about his moxie.”
The Captains will need that moxie and more when they travel down to Virginia Commonwealth University on Thursday, March 10 to compete for the VHSL Class 4 State title against Region 4B Champion Varina in hopes of bringing back the first boys basketball state championship in Loudoun County High School history. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
“When I first took over here, we hadn’t won a district championship since 1966, and we finally won one,” Alexander said. “Then we won a region title, and then another one. And now we’re here. It’s been a long process, but it’s finally paid off.”
Derrick Jerry and Jack Beard captured 175+ photos at the game!
Loudoun County Stats
| Loudoun County | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Jack West | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2-for-2 |
| Braxton Griffin | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3-for-3 |
| Jimmy Daughtrey | 8 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4-for-6 |
| Zach Hensch | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2-for-2 |
| Joseph Fitzpatrick | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| Brendan Boyers | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Nicholas Alexander | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Caiden Bonamassa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-for-2 |
| Jamison Maddox | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| John Penberthy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 50 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 13-for-17 |
Loudoun Valley Stats
| Loudoun Valley | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | FT |
| Jayden Johnson | 17 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3-for-5 |
| Ben Hall | 8 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2-for-3 |
| Nathan Boner | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1-for-2 |
| Landen Conrad | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Cole Kielhorn | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3-for-4 |
| Brett Zimmet | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0-for-1 |
| Aaron Babu | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Gavin Supplee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Joey Danielson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Matthew Melvin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| John Hasle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Michael Kabban | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Marek Weshinskey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-for-0 |
| Totals | 40 | 19 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 9-for-15 |