For the past decade, the football program has been the kingpin of middle school football, not only in D.C. but in the nation. The team has dominated their opponents in the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association (DCIAA) and earned the top spot for middle school football programs in the country.
So, when Johnson met up with Brookland Middle School (9-1) for the DCIAA 2024 Middle School Championship on Nov. 13, it was assumed that they would earn another trophy 鈥 after all, they had defeated their opponents 27-6 during the regular season. But The Brookland Breeze had others’ ideas.聽聽
Using a strong motivation of past failures and an underdog status, they pulled off what many are calling a major upset, an 18-12 victory over the defending champions at Ballou High School.
“Words cannot explain the feeling of having made history here at Brookland,” said Brookland head coach Osiris Walcott, in his 10th season there. “We have been knocking at the door, but we have not been able to accomplish our goal of winning a championship.聽 We believed all along when others may have doubted, That’s what it all the sweeter.”
Brookland鈥檚 program started nine years ago, playing under the then Stars division where it was successful in winning four titles. Then in 2022, Brookland moved up to the much more competitive Stripes Division, which included Johnson. Despite the challenge, the Breeze built on their previous success and went on to make it to the finals, only to lose to Johnson.聽聽
Then, last year, Brookland again came up short losing in the semifinals, this time to Jefferson Middle School.
“It was a maturing process for sure,” noted Walcott, who also doubles as the boys’ basketball coach at Brookland. “For the eighth graders, they especially bought in, because they had experienced the disappointments the previous two seasons. It was not difficult to get their attention. They were locked in and motivated.”
The core of the team centered around Gregory Dargen, Kavon Martin, SirRyan Whittington Jr., Dekeen Kuyateh and Demetrius Mathis II.
With the hard-working team at play, Mathis proved to be the difference in the win over Johnson, as he accounted for two of the team’s crucial scores: a touchdown run for the game’s first score and the other on a spectacular kick return.
In the midst of the celebration, Walcott pointed to the impact of the Johnson program, under the direction of Michael Shariff, a highly regarded head coach who has not only turned the attention of the youth football world to the DMV area, but has also raised the bar and forced the middle school teams to work harder.
It has proven to be beneficial in many ways.
“When you look at what Coach Sharrieff has done, it is remarkable,” praised Walcott. “Johnson has sent a number of players to highly regarded high school programs and then ultimately to college. We have benefitted from the legacy that he has created. When coaches come to evaluate their talent, we benefit from the exposure. Because of that, we have a number of players from the Brookland program who are now standouts at their various high schools.”
In February 2024, Sharrief was honored by the Pigskin Club of Washington for his transformational leadership.
鈥滻 think to be a great coach, you鈥檝e got to be a great teacher. You鈥檝e got to love teaching. You know you only coach 12-15 times a year, but you teach a whole lot of days in between that,鈥 Sharrieff said during his acceptance speech at Pigskin Club of Washington鈥檚 fall sports awards banquet earlier this year. He said that his love for teaching has been a motivating factor for his work and a secret to some of the success behind his coaching.
For Walcott, the win was wonderful, but he said he is especially proud of the six players who came through the Brookland program and are now in college. Nonetheless, he emphasized that such success stories are only part of the gratification he feels in coaching the middle school team.
“We want to win like everyone else who does this,” admitted Walcott, who guided the boys’ basketball program to the championship two years ago. “But what satisfies me most is that we are in a position to set these kids up for success. At the end of the day, isn’t that what matters the most?”