After an exciting year that saw many ups and downs, the football season came to a close on Nov. 29 after a 42-20 loss to the Westfield Bulldogs. Despite the season’s disappointing end, it was surely one to remember.

“I think overall we had a pretty good season,” junior Kyle Edwards said,“We won 10 games and made it back to the regional semifinals, which is pretty good.”

The season started out well with a 30-6 win over West Potomac. While the game was not played against the strongest competition, it marked the beginning of a new era under junior quarterback Kyle Edwards. The next week, the Bruins faced Stone Bridge in a key non-conference matchup. While the LB offense sputtered, the defense came up big, getting multiple stops in the red zone on the way to a 13-9 win.

After the win, a matchup against archrival Robinson was up. The leadup to the game was filled with theatrics, as unknown Robinson students allegedly vandalized the Bear. Once the teams hit the field, the Bruins came out slow, but roared back in the fourth quarter. They almost tied the game at the end, but failed to make a 2-point conversion and suffered their first loss of the season.

Following the loss to Robinson, the Bruins went on a three-game win streak, defeating perennial Northern Region contender Westfield 36-23, an overhauled Annandale team that had received multiple upgrades to its coaching staff 28-17 and a strong Woodson squad 34-28. LB entered its game against West Springfield on a hot streak, but the Spartans’ stingy defense kept the game low-scoring and handed LB its second loss of the season on a last second field goal.

“I thought we were better [than West Springfield,” head coach Jim Poythress said, “I thought we would see them again and we would have to make changes before then.”

The Bruins would again go on a three-game win streak to close out the regular season, defeating T.C. Williams 52-7 in the homecoming game. They then traveled to rival South County and defeated the then-undefeated Stallions 62-41. LB closed out the regular season at home against Lee, defeating the Lancers 47-20. After an 8-2 regular season, the Bruins earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and a matchup with the Oakton Cougars.

“We had a lot of confidence entering the playoffs,” Edwards said.

In the game against Oakton, the Bruins dominated, beating Oakton 44-14. In the following week, they played West Springfield for the second time. This second game ended with Edwards sneaking into the endzone for a touchdown as time expired to win 27-24. The win set up a rematch against Westfield, whom LB had beaten earlier in the season. However, a win wasn’t in the cards as the Bulldogs dominated the Bruins, going up 35-0 at halftime. The Bruins tried to make a comeback, but ultimately fell 42-20 to end their season.

“We just had an off game,” sophomore Ibraham Mansaray said.