A few years ago my son was announced in the starting lineup for the VHSL Class 6 state soccer final.
It was an emotional, almost surreal moment for me — not only as a father, but as someone who has spent a lifetime as a fan and amateur historian of Virginia high school sports. I had watched those games for decades. Suddenly my own son was walking onto that stage.
He was only a junior. To him, it was just another big game. The team was strong and most of the roster would return the next season. He assumed there would be another chance.
But anyone who has followed sports long enough knows championships rarely follow a script.
Bill Parcells once said that if you win the Super Bowl, no one can ever say you couldn’t do it. That line has always stayed with me. A championship simplifies everything. It settles arguments before they begin.
Sherman Rivers understands that feeling.
Sherman is one of the most successful players and coaches of his generation in Northern Virginia basketball. He led Potomac to a state final as a player and Patriot to several more as a coach. Like me, he is both a competitor and a historian of the game.
A loss in a championship game doesn’t shake Sherman’s confidence. He has plenty of that. But competitors still want the feeling that comes with finishing the job.
Like Sherman, every player and coach on that floor tomorrow understands the difference.
A state championship may not change a life.
But it does place a coach, a team, and a program in a different conversation.
Tomorrow morning at 12:30 at VCU, two more teams will get that opportunity.
In the Class 6 girls final, Manchester and Osbourn Park meet in a long-awaited rematch of last year’s championship — two dynamic and deep teams that should put on a show.
Later, on the boys side, Westfield faces Landstown in a matchup between the two top-rated teams all season. Both are loaded with talent and led by explosive guards — Jemon Price for Westfield and Damien Robinson for Landstown.
I happen to be out of town on business, but I’ll find my way home and make the drive to Richmond.
Because moments like this matter.
All the players and coaches on that floor tomorrow are already winners. Reaching a state championship game is something that must be earned, and the experience will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
But anyone who has lived through one knows there is still a difference.
Life feels just a little different for the team — the players, the coaches, and the fans — that walk off the floor holding the trophy.
Win it if you can.
Because once you do, no one can ever say you couldn’t.