Ocean Lakes. South County. Lake Taylor. Riverheads. L.C. Bird. Massaponax. Tuscarora. Colonial Forge.
As the playoffs have progressed this year all the way up to the outcomes of the state championships yesterday, I really look at 2015 as the season where undefeated favorites went down, reigning state champions were stymied, and top seeds were upset.
To me, it all starts with an Ocean Lakes team that was ranked very high nationally and completely dominated their schedule, as most probably saw them coasting to the 6A title game. Heavily favored heading into the Oscar Smith game, and all the sudden bam, Oscar Smith pulls the upset and Ocean Lakes is done.
L.C. Bird had also dominated their schedule and I remember seeing the thread by Giliam listing some of the eye-popping regular season statistics that L.C. Bird had racked up. Honestly, my only thought after seeing that thread was that they were heading to a fourth straight state championship. Although Hermitage was seen as a good match and more than capable of handing L.C. Bird the loss that they did, it was still surprising to see the three-time defending state champion out early in the second round.
Undefeated South County lost to Westfield by 32 points in the semi-finals, a team that they had defeated 26-19 in the regular season. A four-loss Stone Bridge team ended the seasons of the top two seeds in 5A North, Riverheads was defeated by a four-loss Galax team yesterday, and #8 seed Riverbend upsetting the #1 seed Colonial Forge in their pod kind of kicked off the surprising defeats of the playoffs. Then, Salem earned their redemption getting the victory over the favored 4A defending state champion Lake Taylor.
Jose Aldo. Ronda Rousey. Chris Weidman.
After spending the day in Charlottesville watching the 5A and 6A games, I headed to a friend's house to catch UFC 194; I thought it would be a nice cap to the day and man I was right. Two title fights on the line. In the co-main event, Chris Weidman was undefeated at 13-0 and has been the man since knocking out Anderson Silva in their first fight, but Luke Rockhold came in last night and finished Weidman to claim the middleweight belt with a 4th round TKO. After watching this fight and remembering how hard Ronda Rousey went down recently, I started to think about the 2015 playoffs and the trend of heavy-hitters falling.
I had yesterday planned out for months: The appetizer would be the 5A state championship in the afternoon, 6A state championship in the evening as the main dish, and finally the Jose Aldo Vs. Conor McGregor fight as the dessert. Aldo had not lost in a decade, and was the only featherweight champion that the UFC has known. A lot of hype and trash talk had built up this fight for the entire year and anybody who follows UFC would know what I am talking about. When they came out and touched gloves, I was excited to see what would happen, and to see if this "trend" would continue of champions and favorites going down in the world of UFC and Virginia high school football.
We were barely given enough time to blink. 13 seconds. Stunned. First round knockout and fastest finish of any title fight in the history of the UFC. Conor McGregor crowned new featherweight champion handing Jose Aldo his first loss in 10 years.
Watching the UFC title fights last night and changing of the belts was once again a fitting end to the 2015 football season with all of the upsets and surprise defeats that occurred. It is always amazing to see how on any given day any one or any team can win or lose. Much respect to all who go out there, compete, and give it 100% regardless of the outcome.
As the playoffs have progressed this year all the way up to the outcomes of the state championships yesterday, I really look at 2015 as the season where undefeated favorites went down, reigning state champions were stymied, and top seeds were upset.
To me, it all starts with an Ocean Lakes team that was ranked very high nationally and completely dominated their schedule, as most probably saw them coasting to the 6A title game. Heavily favored heading into the Oscar Smith game, and all the sudden bam, Oscar Smith pulls the upset and Ocean Lakes is done.
L.C. Bird had also dominated their schedule and I remember seeing the thread by Giliam listing some of the eye-popping regular season statistics that L.C. Bird had racked up. Honestly, my only thought after seeing that thread was that they were heading to a fourth straight state championship. Although Hermitage was seen as a good match and more than capable of handing L.C. Bird the loss that they did, it was still surprising to see the three-time defending state champion out early in the second round.
Undefeated South County lost to Westfield by 32 points in the semi-finals, a team that they had defeated 26-19 in the regular season. A four-loss Stone Bridge team ended the seasons of the top two seeds in 5A North, Riverheads was defeated by a four-loss Galax team yesterday, and #8 seed Riverbend upsetting the #1 seed Colonial Forge in their pod kind of kicked off the surprising defeats of the playoffs. Then, Salem earned their redemption getting the victory over the favored 4A defending state champion Lake Taylor.
Jose Aldo. Ronda Rousey. Chris Weidman.
After spending the day in Charlottesville watching the 5A and 6A games, I headed to a friend's house to catch UFC 194; I thought it would be a nice cap to the day and man I was right. Two title fights on the line. In the co-main event, Chris Weidman was undefeated at 13-0 and has been the man since knocking out Anderson Silva in their first fight, but Luke Rockhold came in last night and finished Weidman to claim the middleweight belt with a 4th round TKO. After watching this fight and remembering how hard Ronda Rousey went down recently, I started to think about the 2015 playoffs and the trend of heavy-hitters falling.
I had yesterday planned out for months: The appetizer would be the 5A state championship in the afternoon, 6A state championship in the evening as the main dish, and finally the Jose Aldo Vs. Conor McGregor fight as the dessert. Aldo had not lost in a decade, and was the only featherweight champion that the UFC has known. A lot of hype and trash talk had built up this fight for the entire year and anybody who follows UFC would know what I am talking about. When they came out and touched gloves, I was excited to see what would happen, and to see if this "trend" would continue of champions and favorites going down in the world of UFC and Virginia high school football.
We were barely given enough time to blink. 13 seconds. Stunned. First round knockout and fastest finish of any title fight in the history of the UFC. Conor McGregor crowned new featherweight champion handing Jose Aldo his first loss in 10 years.
Watching the UFC title fights last night and changing of the belts was once again a fitting end to the 2015 football season with all of the upsets and surprise defeats that occurred. It is always amazing to see how on any given day any one or any team can win or lose. Much respect to all who go out there, compete, and give it 100% regardless of the outcome.