■ 13 November 2008 | 12:53 PM
Last season, Lake Taylor coach Hank Sawyer scheduled perennial power C. D. Hylton from Northern Virginia. The Bulldogs had won eight consecutive region titles from 1998 to 2005 and a Group AAA Division 6 state title in 2002.
The Titans became the first team from South Hampton Roads in more than 20 years to play a regular-season game outside the Eastern Region when they traveled to Woodbridge to play Hylton.
Lake Taylor won that game 24-17 in double overtime.
C.D. Hylton returned the favor this season when they traveled to Norfolk. The Titans were victorious again, 48-7.
That win ended up helping the Titans in other ways when it came to power points.
Both Lake Taylor and Phoebus finished the regular season 10-0 but the Titans earned the No. 1 seed in Division 5 because of the power points they got from playing C.D. Hylton. The Titans, who beat Warwick last week, host No. 4 Hampton on Friday.
“C.D. Hylton’s three losses have come against teams that finished the regular season undefeated,” said Sawyer. “They have a lot of tradition and I wanted to play someone with some tradition and it’s definitely benefited us.”
C.D. Hylton finished the season 7-3. The other two losses were to Woodbridge, which finished the season ranked No. 6 in the state, and Battlefield, which finished No. 10.
Outside of those three losses, Hylton outscored its opponents 210-23.
Sawyer hopes that experience of playing Hylton will help his team go deep into the playoffs.
“These kids have never stopped believing,” said Sawyer, whose team is ranked No. 4 in the state. “They’ve heard the talk that we can’t win in the playoffs but they’ve made a commitment to me, themselves, their families and to Lake Taylor that they are going to hang in there.”
Read more about Lake Taylor in The Virginian-Pilot on Friday.
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