Nats Drilled 11-1 in Season Opener

Photo by FLICKR/ableman/1144666292/ Even Teddy, Abe, George and Tom could not help their hometown team win on Monday. Teddy Roosevelt, of course, lost again.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - The Washington Nationals did not get off to a rousing start to commence the '10 baseball season.

The Nats were drilled 11-1 by the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies on a splendid day (weather wise) in Southeast D.C.

By virtue of the loss, it will be mathematically impossible for the Nats to finish the current season undefeated - as if anyone really expected that.

The Nats near term schedule is as follows: April 7, 8 - host Philadelphia; April 9, 10, 11 - visit N. Y. Mets; April 12, 14, 15 - visit Philadelphia; April 16, 17, 18 - host Milwaukee; April 19, 20, 21, 22 - host Colorado; April 23, 24, 25 - host L. A. Dodgers; April 26, 27, 28 - visit Chicago Cubs and April 30, May 1, 2 - visit Florida.

Local Flair to Football Hall of Fame

Last week's Fairfax County Football Hall of Fame Banquet had a distinctive Alexandria flavor to it.

Photo by FLICKR/ableman/133999938/ By virtue of the loss, it will be mathematically impossible for the Nats to finish the current season undefeated - as if anyone really expected that.

The 20th annual banquet was held in Tysons Corner in mid-March of this year and made six awards to area high school football players (based on District affiliation).

Two of the awards went directly to student-athletes in Alexandria.

From the City, Episcopal senior Hunter de Butts garnered the "Private" School Award. De Butts quarterbacked the Maroon this past autumn after playing wide receiver for veteran head coach Mark Gowin his first three seasons.

In addition, during his four years of varsity football for the Maroon and Black, de Butts also played defensive back and a variety of special teams positions.

De Butts' younger brother Austin will be a junior in the fall of '10 and also plays football for the only high school in Northern Virginia that predates the Civil War.

De Butts quarterbacked the Maroon this past autumn after playing wide receiver for veteran head coach Mark Gowin his first three seasons.
From South Alexandria, Hayfield senior Anton McCallum garnered the "National" District Award.

McCallum quarterbacked the Hawks this past autumn and led Hayfield to their first post-season appearance in a number of seasons.

During his junior season, McCallum also quarterbacked the Hawks during their final season in the Patriot District (in which they finished 1-9).

When District realignment occured during the summer of '09, Hayfield joined the National District and with McCallum as the trigger man six months ago, the Hawks enjoyed a breakout season. During his junior year (fall '08), Hayfield was coached by Billy Pugh. During his senior season, the Orange and White were coached by Pugh early on and then by Roy Hill (after Pugh was stricken by a stroke).

The other four high school awards were as follows: Robinson senior Brian Laiti ("Concorde" District Award); W.T. Woodson senior Josh Hogan ("Patriot" District Award); Madison senior Kevin Samson ("Liberty" District Award) and Battlefield senior Bo Revell ("At Large" Award).

Battlefield is in western Prince William County and thus the Banquet being entitled "Fairfax County Football Hall of Fame" is somewhat misleading as the Banquet honors student-athletes from all corners of Northern Virginia (Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County and even Prince William County).

In addition to honoring the six student-athletes, the Banquet also inducted three new members into their Hall of Fame (now making the number of recipients in the Hall of Fame stand at 71).

These three new members included Richard Herman, Nick Hilgert and Jason Witten.

Herman is involved in Fort Belvoir youth sports; Hilgert is the former head coach at both G.C. Marshall and Robinson High Schools and Witten grew up as a kid in Vienna.

During his formative years, Wittens family moved to Tennessee. After graduating from Elizabethton H.S., Witten played tight end collegiately at the University of Tennessee and is now in the NFL with the "dreaded" Dallas Cowboys.

In addition to: de Butts, McCallum, Laiti, Hogan, Samson, Revell, Herman, Hilgert and Witten - the Banquet also honored 16 youth football players from around the area.

Of special note, the Banquet also gave G.C. Marshall AD/DSA Joseph Swarm the "Tom Davis Meritorious Service Award". The award is bestowed on an individual who has selflessly given their time and energies to support the youth of the Fairfax County Youth Football League. Tom Davis is the former U.S. Congressman from the 10th District and is also an avid Washington Nationals baseball fan.

Finally, three high school seniors were recipients of Fairfax County Youth Football League Scholarship Awards. They were Cody Canard (Robinson H.S.), Greg Gadell (O'Connell H.S.) and Nick Grinups (Westfield H.S.).

Before adjourning, Master of Ceremonies and Hall of Fame Committee member Mark Meana gave the closing comments.