Countdown to Kickoff: South County Stallions

LORTON, Va. (DC News Now) — South County football is continuing to build the culture of the program back to what is was when they won their lone state title in 2019.

Last season, South County went 9-3, losing in the second round of playoffs to Fairfax. It was the first time in four seasons that the Stallions did not make it to at least the region championship game.

Gerry Pannoni is in his second stint as head coach of the program, and his second consecutive season. For Pannoni, building the culture back is the main goal, but he will have to do so with a relatively young group, after graduating over 30 players from a season ago.

“Our young kids are very talented,” said Pannoni. “Our young kids are very eager. Our young kids are working their butt off.”

One way Coach P is preparing his young team for success is playing a tough preseason schedule, scrimmaging nationally-ranked WCAC powerhouse St. John’s and DCSAA Class A champions Maret.

“It definitely shows that Coach P wants to set the standard of what we are all about,” said senior defensive lineman/tight end Hunter Malecki. “It will definitely set the standard for what we want to do. We just have to learn to not play down to our competition.”

“Scrimmaging St. John’s, a nationally-ranked program in the country is obviously a big challenge,” said senior wide receiver Tyler Orth. “I think it’s going to prepare us mentally and physically for the whole season.”

On top of the tough preseason schedule, South County plays one of the hardest regular season schedules, with out of conference teams such as Madison and Quince Orchard, on top of their 6C region schedule that includes matchups with Lake Braddock, Fairfax, West Springfield and Hayfield.

“If you look at our schedule, almost every team in our district was in the playoffs,” said Pannoni. “That’s pretty quality football. So, we will see where it ends up.”

South County’s first regular season game will be on Thursday, August 29 on the road against district rival Robinson.

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