Despite winning regional championships in 2017 and 2019 and coming up short in the region title game in 2018, the Colonial Forge High School football team felt it had been overlooked lately. In fact, much of the buzz in the region over the past five years centered around Battlefield and two-time defending state champion Freedom-Woodbridge.
However, the Eagles reminded everyone that they’re a force to be reckoned with in last weekend’s 42-14 dismantling of Patriot in the Virginia High School League Region 6B championship game.
Now, Colonial Forge finds itself seeking something it has never accomplished: a state championship. And to do so, the Eagles must find a way to conquer a familiar foe.
Forge (10-3) will travel to Chesapeake on Saturday to play Oscar Smith (13-0) in a VHSL Class 6 state semifinal matchup. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
This will mark the sixth time that the Eagles have faced the Tigers in the playoffs — all since 2013. They’ve come up short in all five previous meetings.
Smith has emerged as a perennial state powerhouse over the past two decades, winning four state titles since 2008 and making it to the championship game on five other occasions.
While none of Forge’s current players were involved in any of its previous matchups with the Tigers (the most recent one was in 2019), Eagles head coach John Brown said they’re well aware of both who they’re facing and the magnitude of the game.
“Our current players always follow Oscar Smith, as well as other teams that are in the upper tier year in and year out, because we want to match ourselves with those programs,” Brown said. “We want to be in that conversation of upper-level teams every year.”
Practically everything about the Tigers screams “upper-level.” They’ve outscored their opponents by a combined 529-68, with their closest margin of victory coming by a comfortable 15 points in a 27-12 win over Class 5 King’s Fork (11-2). Their defense, meanwhile, has produced seven shutouts.
Smith is loaded with Division-I prospects, starting with junior wide receiver Travis Johnson.
Johnson, who is a consensus four-star prospect according to 247Sports.com, has 45 receptions for 750 yards and 11 touchdowns so far this season.
Johnson currently holds scholarship offers from 22 schools, including Virginia Tech, Virginia, Auburn, Florida, Michigan, Penn State and Tennessee.
Johnson “is a big-play weapon and one of the nation’s premier prospects in the Class of 2026,” said Matthew Hatfield, publisher of VirginiaPreps.com on the Rivals network. “He has uncanny athleticism and the ability to take the top off the defense.”
Throwing the ball to Johnson is sophomore quarterback Lonnie Andrews III, who already has offers from Virginia Tech, Boston College and Syracuse. Andrews has been sharp all year, completing 140 of 230 passes for 2295 yards with 23 TDs and just five interceptions.
Smith’s running game is paced by senior running back Brandon Nesbit, who’s rushed for 1,392 yards and 23 scores.
“[Smith] is really balanced on offense, but unlike some of their vintage teams of recent years, they really get their passing game rolling through what they’re able to establish via the ground attack,” Hatfield said. “That opens up play-action with Andrews and Johnson.”
Opponents can’t key on just those three players, though.
In last week’s 28-7 victory over Highland Springs in the Region 6A title game, sophomore Ty’jae Curtis racked up 104 yards on the ground, while University of Buffalo signee Alvin “Trey” Jones hauled in four passes for 91 yards.
All of that came in addition to Nesbit’s 120 yards and three TDs rushing, helping the Tigers avenge their last defeat, which came by the same score against the Springers in last season’s regional championship game.
Defensively, Smith boasts difference-makers at all three levels.
Four-star Virginia Tech signee Jahmari DeLoatch and Army commit Jaden Dabbs patrol the Tigers’ secondary from their respective safety positions. They’re joined by junior cornerback Jayden Covil, who has offers from the likes of Virginia Tech and Penn State.
Up front, 6-foot-0, 260-pound defensive tackle Izayiah Bray is already drawing major college interest, while linebacker Malachi White has a nose for the ball.
“They have 22 players that can make plays, and you have to account for them,” Brown said. “And in addition to the skill players with Division-I offers, they have an offensive line that gets off the ball very well. Their front seven on defense gets off blocks and makes plays everywhere.
“You can’t really take away one or two players and expect that to make a difference,” he continued. “They literally have a team full of players who can beat you.”
While Forge may not boast the same laundry list of D-I prospects that Smith does, the Eagles have plenty of standouts up and down their roster.
Junior QB Brock Brimhall has emerged as an x-factor with both his arm and his legs in his first full campaign as Forge’s signal-caller, passing for 2,342 yards and 23 scores and running for 513 yards and six TDs.
Brimhall’s dual-threat ability was on full display against Patriot, when he threw for 182 yards and four scores and ran for 92 yards and another touchdown.
“I leave it to our coaches to call the plays and put us in position to succeed,” Brimhall said. “I just try and do my job, which is to execute what they call.”
Brimhall has plenty of options whenever he puts the ball in the air, and they’re all talented underclassmen.
Junior TaySean Jones leads the Eagles in receptions (60), yards (977) and touchdowns (12). Freshman Darion Majeed has caught 36 balls for 570 yards and five scores, and junior Jake Ashinhurst has 16 catches for 248 yards and three TDs.
Jones and Majeed each hauled in a pair of scores against Patriot, with Jones totaling a team-high 95 yards receiving.
“I’m confident in throwing the ball to any of those guys,” said Brimhall, whose 12 completions against Patriot were split between Jones, Majeed (five) and Ashinhurst (two). “They’re all capable of making plays with the ball in their hands.”
Josiah Bryson is Forge’s leading rusher with 877 yards and 19 touchdowns. The senior running back signed with Saint Francis University on Wednesday.
Junior linebacker Jaylen Carter and senior defensive lineman Jake Mangano lead the Eagles defense. Carter has tallied 81 tackles (14.5 for loss) and five sacks. Mangano has recorded 59 tackles, with team-highs of 24.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.
Mangano has committed to Division II Shepherd University.
The ball-hawking Majeed is a standout in the secondary with four INTs. Bryson and Campbell have two apiece, and Jeremiah Wise’s nine pass breakups lead the squad.
“We’ll have to play a clean game on both sides of the ball to beat [Smith],” Brown said. “But our players want to win and get to our first-ever state championship game. They want to measure up, regardless of who they’re playing.”
While Forge has never beaten Smith, the last three matchups between the two schools have been settled by seven points or less. The Tigers won by identical 27-20 scores in both the 2016 6A-South Region championship game and 2017 Class 6 state semifinals and eked out an 18-16 victory in the 2019 Class 6 state semifinals.
