Top 10 Teams of 2015-16: #7: Mills Godwin Girls Soccer

There's something extra special about seizing the first state championship in a team sport for your high school.

And, after watching their male counterparts celebrate on the field at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax in 2015, the Mills Godwin girls soccer team wanted that same feeling. But first, it would take survival in a series of defensive tests with rival Deep Run, then a state semifinal victory to give the Eagles the opportunity they'd worked for and dreamed about.

On a hot early afternoon in Fairfax, the Eagles fought back from a deficit, getting two Paige Franks penalty shot goals to take a lead on Tuscarora, who bounced back to force overtime. In extra time, Franks finished her hat trick for history, and Mills Godwin girls soccer could finally call themselves state champions.

Congratulations to Mills Godwin, our #7 team for the 2015-16 season! (Photo courtesy of Bob Lanum)

Top 10 Games of 2015-16: #8: Deep Run 65, Henrico 60 (January 13, 2016)

The streak was over.

Up to this point in the high school boys basketball season, the wheel of fortune had created two of three possible matchups between some of the biggest teams in the RVA Sports Network Top 10: Henrico, Deep Run and St. Christopher's, with L.C. Bird quietly biding their time across the river knowing their turn would likely come in the playoffs.

First, St. Christopher's knocked off Deep Run for the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament Championship just before Christmas. Then, a week later, it was the showdown of future Spiders as the Saints' Nic Sherod and Henrico's De'Monte Buckingham squared off in the Henrico Holiday Hoops Tournament Championship heard live on RVA Sports Network, won by the homestanding Warriors.

Thus, the next two weeks were filled with buzz about Deep Run's impending trip to Henrico for a regular season matchup on January 13th. And, live on RVA Sports Network, Henrico jumped to an early eight-point lead after one quarter, and still led by seven after three.

But something happened in the fourth quarter that hadn't occurred in a long time. Henrico was dominated by their opponent. Part of their downfall was outside shooting that failed them, but credit must be given to the Wildcats, who came so close to knocking off both eventual 5A State Champion Henrico in the 2015 Conference 11 Championship, then L.C. Bird in the 2015 5A South Region Quarterfinals, for producing a shut-down final eight minutes that led them to a 65-60 road win, bringing Henrico's storied 33-game winning streak to a close.

It was the signature win Deep Run had craved, sending them to the top of our poll. Deep Run 65, Henrico 60, our 2015-16 #8 Game Of The Year.

(Deep Run guard Georgie Pacheco, shown here facing St. Christopher's, December 23, 2015)

Top 10 Teams of 2015-16: #8: Randolph-Macon College Baseball

They are the only college representative on our list for the 2015-16 season, led by a group of seniors bound and determined to make as much history as possible before leaving Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park in Ashland for the last time.

They needed 27 wins to become the first graduating class of Yellow Jackets with 100 career baseball wins. They earned 35. They didn't experience a two-game losing streak this season until the very end. They won their first eleven games. Postseason awards were everywhere, especially for Matoaca grad Travis Lodge and Atlee grad James Walsh.

They knocked off their biggest rival, Hampden-Sydney, in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament Championship to clinch a return to the NCAA Tournament, where the Yellow Jackets had never won a game.

Until this year.

As the two seed in their regional near Pittsburgh, Randolph-Macon won their first three games in the Mideast, setting up a showdown with #1 seed LaRoche in the final round, a team they defeated 19-6 for their third tournament win. Although the Yellow Jackets had their chances, including having the winning run in scoring position twice, that two-game losing streak reared its head at the worst possible time, and it would be LaRoche taking the bid to Appleton and the Division III College World Series.

Although they fell short of the ultimate goal, it was still, far and away, the greatest baseball season in the storied history of Randolph-Macon College baseball, and the team well deserving of a spot in our year-end Top 10.

(Photos Courtesy of Nick Liberante and Old Dominion Athletic Conference)

Top 10 Games of 2015-16: #9: Football: Atlee 44, Hanover 40

As heard live on the RVA Sports Network High School Football Game of the Week on WHAN Radio, it seemed like the homestanding Hanover Hawks would have their way with their current biggest rival, the Atlee Raiders, as Hanover went to halftime enjoying a 25-6 lead, the Raiders showing no signs of their usually potent offense.

That is, until the first play of the second half, when Rasharrd Harris flipped the football to J.J. Givens, and let the future North Carolina State wideout do the rest, going 67 yards to begin a 31-point third quarter explosion as the Raiders came back on the road to stun the Hawks 44-40.

Hanover didn't roll over despite Atlee's third quarter for the ages, as quarterback Marcus Bazala led a long drive early in the fourth quarter to retake the lead at 40-37, but the Raiders took the lead for good after recovering a surprise Hanover onside kick at midfield, scoring five plays later as A.J. Zollar ran to paydirt from three yards out for the winning score.

Both teams made their respective playoffs, with Atlee winning one, Hanover winning two games. But September 25, 2015 will forever be known as one of the crazier chapters in the 13-year rivalry between the closest geographical rivals in Hanover County. (Photo courtesy of Nick Liberante)

Top 10 Teams of 2015-16: #9: Maggie Walker Baseball

One of the reasons the Virginia High School League went forward with total state reclassification in 2013, overturning a system that lasted over four decades, was to offer more equal opportunity for schools, especially smaller ones located in larger metropolitan areas, giving them a postseason system where they could battle against teams from schools of their own size.

Still, the Green Dragons of Maggie Walker Governor's School had to endure a tough regular season schedule in the Colonial District, filled with powerhouse programs from a defending state champion (Glen Allen) to perennial favorites like Douglas Freeman, Deep Run and Mills Godwin. In the end, the experience served Maggie Walker well, as the Dragons went on a postseason to remember, climaxing with a second playoff win over new 2A rival Goochland for the 2A State Championship on June 11th at Radford University.

RVA Sports Network salutes Maggie Walker Baseball, #9 in our Top 10 Teams for 2015-16!

Top 10 Games Of 2015-16: #10: Boys Basketball: Colonial Heights Stuns Lee-Davis

Tucked away in the middle of a busy week between Christmas and New Year's in high school basketball was the return of The Southerner Classic at Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville.

And in the first boys championship game on December 30th between the host Confederates and the Colonials of Colonial Heights, it looked like the home team would win thanks to a late three-pointer to make it 58-57.

But.....

CLICK HERE to see not only that shot, but the game-winning buzzer beater, literally, as our Taylor Luck caught it all on video as Colonial Heights won The Southerner Classic in a thriller, 60-58.

Top 10 Teams of 2015-16: #10: Monacan Boys Basketball

The party-crashing Chiefs begin our year-end countdown of the top teams of the 2015-16 high school sports season in the RVA.

While fans knew all about the Monacan girls team, their male counterparts flew very low under the radar during the regular season, entering the Conference 20 Tournament essentially in a three-team race for two spots in the 4A East Region Championship.

The Chiefs, after eliminating Hanover in the Conference 20 semifinals, went to Dinwiddie and claimed the title with a 61-59 win over the Generals. A first round 4A East Region win over Courtland clinched a berth in the 4A State Tournament, but then uncertainty crept in, as a pair of losses to finish regionals put the Chiefs as the #4 seed, having to battle the 4A West Region champions in the 4A State Quarterfinals.

The magic really began in earnest at James Madison University, as the Chiefs shocked Loudoun Valley 57-55, earning Monacan a trip to the Siegel Center in the 4A State Semifinal. The Chiefs were tied George Washington at 63, with the ball in the final seconds. It would be Wallace Washington as the hero, hitting the game-winning drive with a second to go to send Monacan to the state final, where they would knock off Lake Taylor for the championship.

Congratulations to Monacan Chiefs boys basketball, 4A State Champions and #10 on our year-end countdown!