Harrisonburg, Va. — Three seasons ago, the Maury and Briar Woods High School football teams were in two different situations. Maury was coming off of a 27-21 loss to Stone Bridge in the VHSL Class 5 State championship, while Briar Woods finished the season 1-9. Since then, the Commodores won the 2023 VHSL Class 5 State championship, and Briar Woods head coach Mike Burnett turned the Falcons into a contender.
“We’ve grown as a team since coming off coach Burnett’s first season,” Briar Woods senior receiver Colin Capistrant said. “Our sophomore year, we lost in the regionals. Junior year, we lost in the regional championship. Here, we finished in the state finals. So every year we got better as a team. We got closer, and it was really awesome to be able to share these moments with my guys.”
For the Falcons, it was a process. Coming off a 5-2 spring season in 2021, Burnett took over the Briar Woods program and after graduating a large senior class, used 2021 to reset expectations. That reset season proved fruitful as the Falcons turned a 1-9 finish in 2021 to a 7-4 finish and region playoff berth in 2022.
Just a season later, the Falcons finished 8-4, earning a first-round by in the region playoffs, before dominating Riverbend in a VHSL Region 5D semifinal. Briar Woods’ road to their fourth state title came up short at the hands of Stone Bridge in the 2023 VHSL Region 5D championship game.
Trending in the right direction, Briar Woods had a hiccup to start their 2024 campaign, falling to VHSL Region 4C runner up John Champe to open their season.
The Falcons responded to that season-opening loss with convincing wins over Loudoun County and Broad Run, before falling to North Stafford ahead of their bye week. Sitting at 2-2 coming out of their bye, the Falcons avenged a 2023 loss to Fort Hill, escaped Riverside, then dominated Potomac Falls and Lightridge to improve to 6-2.
After an injury on the first play of the game against rival Stone Bridge, uprooted their game plan, the Falcons fell to the Bulldogs then bounced back with a win against Independence to claim the Potomac District championship.
Briar Woods used a first round playoff bye to get healthy then held off Massaponax in a VHSL Region 5D semifinal before claiming the VHSL Region 5D crown with a nice road win against Riverbend.
In their VHSL Class 5 State semifinal, the Falcons defended their home turf against L.C. Bird—who bested the Falcons the last time the teams met in the 2013 VHSL 5A State championship game—setting up a matchup with the reigning Class 5 State champion Maury in the 2024 final on December 14 at James Madison University’s Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg.
Having fought through adversity all season long, the Falcons couldn’t grab any momentum in the state championship game as the Commodores repeated as state champs, 46-0.
“There was a lot to be said about this group of guys,” Maury head coach Dyrri McCain said. “They’re special. It’s never been done to go back-to-back in school history. They’ll forever be known as the team to do that. There was a lot of talk through our offseason, that we weren’t the same team from last year. These guys carried that.”
Maury senior quarterback Au’Tori Newkirk went 15-of-21 for 325 yards, five touchdowns—tied for the second most in VHSL playoff history—and two interceptions. Newkirk spread the ball to his receivers, with five catching two or more passes. Junior receiver Elijah Moss-Williams led the Commodores with 104 receiving yards and a touchdown, additionally senior receiver LeBron Bond had a team-high two touchdowns along with 98 yards.
On the flip side, the Briar Woods offense couldn’t get anything going. The Falcons ran 49 plays from scrimmage, but only had 93 yards total. The 1.9 yards per play were helped by senior quarterback Brady Carmical. Carmical—the 2024 All-LoCo Offensive Player of the Year—went 12-of-25 for 69 yards and two interceptions. Capistrant caught five passes for 34 yards and senior athlete Lucas Roser ran for 29 yards.
“We couldn’t run the football,” Burnett said. “We’ve been able to run, especially with Brady. We figured some things out at halftime, but it was a little too late. We ate a lot of clock in the first half, but we got to finish.”
For the second consecutive week, Briar Woods tried to surprise their opponents as sophomore kicker Matthew Kordes tried an onside kick to open the game, but a penalty stopped the play. Then, Kordes kicked the ball out of bounds, setting Maury up on their own 40 yard line.
Newkirk connected with his receivers early, finding junior receiver Damon McDaniel for 5, junior receiver Jahvon Wiggins for 11, and then Bond behind the defense for 49 yards plus the touchdown to give the Commodores a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the game.
The dual-threat ability of Carmical showed early as the Falcons quarterback found open field for a 6-yard gain. Then, Carmical found Capistrant for 13 yards, and again for 11. However, Maury senior defensive lineman Leslie Hines was able to sack Carmical 10 yards in the backfield on second down, eventually setting up a 4th-and-21. On 4th down, Maury sophomore athlete Matt Williams broke up Carmical’s intended pass to senior running back Trey Dudley to force a turnover on downs.
“I feel like we were prepared at practice,” Maury senior linebacker Corey Jacobs said. “The scout team gave us a great look every time, and showed us what other teams looked like every time. I really want to thank them. We knew what was coming in this game, and [the defense]came up big.”
Again, Maury didn’t waste time moving down the field. Newkirk found Moss-Williams for 39 yards to bring the Commodores inside the 10 yard line. Three plays later, Newkirk found Wiggins for 6 yards and the score to increase the Maury lead to 14-0.
After a three-and-out for Briar Woods, Maury sophomore running back TayShawn Branche broke a tackle and ran free on a 54-yard run to the Falcons 6 yard line. However, this time Dudley was able to catch an interception from Newkirk in the end zone.
Briar Woods started the ensuing possession of their own 5. The Falcons offense couldn’t pick up many yards on first or second down, but Briar Woods was able to convert crucial third downs. Carmical found sophomore receiver Jax McIntosh for 8 yards, then Capistrant for the same amount, and finally Roser produced a 8-yard rush.
But, the Maury defense stood tall on the next set of downs. An incompletion on third down led to a 12-yard sack by Jacobs. The drive took up almost all eight minutes left in the second quarter before halftime.
“We’ve gone against a bunch of great teams,” Carmical said. “I love competing against those guys. What was different today was [Maury] was so fast. You would think you outnumber them in the box, and then another dude gets there. They’re a great team.”
After Briar Woods punted on their first possession back from halftime, Newkirk connected with Moss-Williams for a 57-yard touchdown. Then, Williams connected with senior athlete Kendall Daniels Jr. across the middle for the two-point conversion and increased the Commodores lead to 22-0.
“Going into this week, we knew the type of team we were going to play,” Newkirk said. “[Coach McCain] gave us a game plan, and definitely let us know that he wanted to throw the ball today. We took it into our own hands. We got up throughout the week and got in extra time.”
Briar Woods had to punt again on their next drive and Maury was back in the end zone after only three plays. Newkirk connected with Wiggins for 17 yards before finding Daniels Jr. for 30, which allowed Branche to score a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Another two-point conversion from Williams to Daniels Jr. gave Maury a 30-0 lead.
The rest of the third quarter was not kind for Briar Woods. Maury sophomore athlete Damon McDaniel Jr. caught an interception then a 27-yard touchdown pass and Bond caught a 31-yard touchdown pass. The 32-point third quarter put the 46-0 lead out of reach for Briar Woods.
Despite the state championship game not going according to plan, Briar Woods (4-1, 10-4) finished the season with double-digit wins for the first time since 2013, while winning the Potomac District and VHSL Region 5D titles.
“We built a really good brotherhood,” Dudley said. “Our freshman year, when we went 1-9, there was going to be a process that we have to trust. We put trust in [coach Burnett]because of his leadership and we stuck together. We worked hard and we’re proud of the obstacles we’ve overcome as a team, and I can’t be more proud of these guys.”
Jackson Reid captured 250+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
| Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 1Q | 11:05 | Maury | Au’tori Newkirk to LeBron Bond 49-yard TD pass (Charles McCoy PAT) | 7-0 |
| 1Q | 0:22 | Maury | Au’tori Newkirk to Jahvon Wiggins 6-yard TD pass (Charles McCoy PAT) | 14-0 |
| 3Q | 8:19 | Maury | Au’tori Newkirk to Elijah Moss-Williams 57-yard TD pass (2pt good) | 22-0 |
| 3Q | 5:28 | Maury | Tayshawn Branche 10-yard TD run (2pt good) | 30-0 |
| 3Q | 3:03 | Maury | Au’tori Newkirk to Damon McDaniel Jr. 27-yard TD pass (2pt good) | 38-0 |
| 3Q | 1:31 | Maury | Au’tori Newkirk to LeBron Bond 31-yard TD pass (2pt good) | 46-0 |