By Dillon Mullan and Daniel Gallen February 4 at 3:29 PM

Freedom-South Ridings colors are black and gold, like the Pittsburgh Penguins. Situated about six miles away, Champe dons a navy and silver color scheme thats a shade different from that of the Los Angeles Kings.

On the rinks of Northern Virginia this winter, these schools came together in separate jerseys but as a single team. The Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League requires 15 players for a school to form a stand-alone squad, but schools can forfeit their playoff eligibility and participate in league play as a joint venture. This regular season, 12 players from Freedom and six from Champe remained in their schools respective colors yet combined to form a lethal scoring unit that scored a league-best 85 goals.

I think a lot of teams underestimated us because they think we werent good enough to do well on our own. Typically, mixed teams dont win many games, but we were able to click with the players from Champe, and we all worked well, said Brad Cademartori, a senior from Freedom who led the team in points with 30 goals and 14 assists. It will be weird to play against them in lacrosse.

Freedom/Champe (8-2) would have easily secured a playoff spot if qualification was based on results and not team composition, but the Eagles and Knights were left without a trophy to play for. Still, the team took advantage of its situation to thrive in a relaxed atmosphere as five players finished the season with at least 16 points.

We knew going into it that we werent going to make the playoffs. It was a great exercise in team cohesiveness, said Mike Ligas, a coach from Champe who is joined behind the bench by Tyler Anderson, an English teacher from Freedom. It was never about winning a championship.

On this past Fridays senior night, Cademartori had five goals and three assists in a 17-7 mercy-rule win over a team from Herndon and West Springfield. The emphatic victory marked the end of a successful season.

Champe helped us out and was a big reason for our success, Cademartori said. But I think it would have been fun being able to play for a playoff spot. We came together as one team and didnt worry about the fact that we went to different schools.

Atholton, Marriotts Ridge set for rematch

After Atholton beat Marriotts Ridge in the two squads regular season finale last week, the victorious Raiders acknowledged there was a good chance they would see the Mustangs again. And Thursday night in Columbia, they will.

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Ice hockey: Freedom, Champe win together; Atholton, Marriotts Ridge will meet again