Friday Night, Round 2 of Playoffs for Falls Church High Jaguars

The Falls Church High School Jaguars will head to Fredericksburg Friday to play the Massaponax High School Panthers in the 5A North Regional Quarterfinal football game.

The Jaguars beat Albemarle last Friday in the first game of the playoffs. The Jaguars had not been to the playoffs since the '70s.

The game will kick off Friday at 7 p.m. with the Jaguars suited up in their away-game white jerseys, from Massaponax High School Stadium, located at 8201 Jefferson Davis Highway in Fredericksburg. It's a 64-mile drive from Falls Church High School. 

Tickets to the game are $8. Only VHSL and 5A North Division passes are accepted for free admittance. Season passes, county faculty/staff passes and non-5A North Division coaching passes are invalid for VHSL sponsored playoff games. 

The Jaguars will leave Falls Church High School at 2 p.m. Friday to avoid traffic, Coach Said Aziz said. In addition to the players, there will likely be two buses going after school with cheerleaders and the pep band, he said. All Jaguar football fans are welcome to come to the game.

Aziz said at this point, when a team reaches the playoffs, "all the teams are good, they're successful." The win will go to "the ones that want it more, and the healthiest ones," he said.

The team has been spending anywhere from 10 to 20 hours "preparing for our opponents," Aziz said. "When I was an assistant staffer [in Stafford] we used to play them all the time, they're very well coached. Their coach used to be [J.E.B.] Stuart's coach in the '80s; they're traditionally very good, they don't make many mistakes."

"I'm happy that we're one of those teams also," he said. "Our kids know what the goal is and our kids, they're accustomed to playing in hostile territory, especially playing in Yorktown and W&L, they're used to playing on the road."

"I'm going to tell our kids, the ultimate goal is to go as far as we can," he said. "You can't take it back, so give it everything you've got, there're no re-dos, this is it, give it everything you've got it; you can't do it over."

The winner of Friday night's game will play the winner of the N. Stafford High School (Stafford) Wolverines vs. Tuscarora High School (Leesburg) Huskies game.