[READ ARTICLE IN THE WASHINGTON POST]

2015 record: 14-1, beat Oscar Smith in the Va. 6A state championship

Returning starters: 6 offense / 5 defense

Style of play: Pro-style offense / 4-3 defense

Key returning players: QB Rehman Johnson, Sr. (380 passing yards, six touchdowns, zero interceptions); WR Sean Eckert, Sr. (23 catches, 439 yards, four touchdowns); OL Christian Karl, Sr.; LB Kevin Petrillo, Sr. (107 tackles, three sacks, six interceptions); DL Zach Jewell, Sr. (49 tackles, seven sacks, two forced fumbles)

Toughest matchups:

Sept. 9 at South County: A reloaded South County squad will be itching for revenge on its home turf after last year’s 40-8 embarrassment in the 6A North region final. The Stallions won this Week 2 meeting a year ago, dealing the Bulldogs their lone defeat.

Oct. 14 vs. Robinson: Rams quarterback Alex Miller and tailback Roman Lowry — both three-year starters — will lead Robinson’s experienced ground attack into a bruising Concorde matchup that rarely disappoints.

The Skinny:

It will be a long time before the shine wears off Westfield’s glittering 2015 football season. Finally, after four straight years of coming up short in the region final, the Bulldogs annihilated South County in the 6A North region championship, then overcame Oscar Smith in an unforgettable, triple-overtime thriller for their first state crown since 2007.

The Bulldogs are not eager to deem their past accomplishments ancient history. They are, however, ready to take a different approach to the 2016 campaign. Continue reading Camp Countdown: Westfield is hungry to defend its state title →

[READ ARTICLE AND WATCH VIDEO IN THE WASHINGTON POST]

It’s 7:30 in the morning — on a Saturday, mind you — and Quinlyn Spellmeyer is already exhausted. She drops her oars and tries to regain the feeling in her hands. Her thighs scream as she climbs out of a wayworn, eight-person scull, 10,000 hard-earned meters of the Potomac River in her wake.

Spellmeyer is a rising senior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High, but given her summer training regimen, you wouldn’t be crazy to mistake her for an Olympic rower enduring a masochistic lifestyle on the road to Rio. Sunday aside, the spunky, 17-year-old redhead rises at 4:30 a.m. for her daily oatmeal and yogurt, churns through morning and afternoon practices with two different teams, volunteers with a summer rowing camp and hits the pillow by 9 p.m.

Spellmeyer estimates she rows about 80 miles per week in practice. Three of those days include land sessions on the dreaded ergometer, on which she grinds out at least eight kilometers per session, sometimes motoring at a 5K-race pace.

There are times — when the miles tick slowly by, when the heat saps her lungs, when the water dissolves into an endless desert expanse — when Spellmeyer wonders why she keeps climbing back into the boat. Continue reading Summer Workouts: Bethesda-Chevy Chase rower Quinlyn Spellmeyer grinds out rapid improvement on the water →