Hawks’ indomitable senior class finishes in style
HAYFIELD 52, PATRIOT 41
RICHMOND — With 30 seconds left in Friday’s Class 6 state championship game, a 52-41 victory over Patriot in hand for Hayfield, there were, surprisingly, no gamedeciding theatrics.
There was, instead, catharsis after a pressure-filled season that had finally reached its conclusion.
As the clock approached zero and Patriot decided not to foul, the outpouring began. Hayfield senior David King (14 points, 10 rebounds) jumped and looked toward the Siegel Center roof. Fellow senior Greg Jones hugged every teammate he could find.
And senior DJ Holloway — the team’s unrelenting region player of the year — stood under the basket. For 30 seconds he stood alone, stone-faced, until an assistant coach approached him.
Unable to hide behind the top of his jersey, the tears flowed.
“We started from the bottom [as freshmen],” Holloway said, “and grinded all the way up.”
The Hawks, repeating as champions, were back at the mountaintop.
“This is just such a great threeyear run‚” Jones said. “Just thinking of all the memories I’ve had . . . and having this final moment of Hayfield basketball. It’s a special moment.”
Last winter, both Patriot (27-4) and Hayfield (30-1) entered the state semifinals with spotless records, seemingly destined to meet in Richmond. But after Patriot fell to Battlefield in the penultimate round and Hayfield coasted to the first 32-0 season in state history, the debate for Northern Virginia supremacy was put to rest.
That is, temporarily. A seasonopening spectacle between the heavyweights, won by Hayfield on a buzzer-beater, further hinted at what might come. From December through Monday’s rankings, the Hawks and Pioneers were the top two Northern Virginia public schools in The Washington Post’s Top 20. This season, with a state semifinal victory over Oscar Smith, the Pioneers held up their end of the bargain. Hayfield, rolling past South Lakes, did the same.
To repeat Friday, Hayfield and its indomitable senior class would have to go through a deep, balanced Patriot squad.
The slugfest started early. Jones exited briefly to get a cut on his eyebrow bandaged. After the teams traded leads in the first quarter, Hayfield took a sevenpoint advantage midway through the second and remained ahead 24-20 at the break.
Though offense remained at a premium, both teams looked calmer coming out of halftime, with Hayfield’s lead edging up to 36-28 entering the final quarter. Riding the relentless play of senior Nasir Coleman (12 points), Patriot kept the game within reach.