Contributed by The Reston Letter Staff

Herndon High and South Lakes have what has become one of the region’s fiercest high school rivalries. Each year, the schools’ varsity football teams square off in a rivalry game dubbed the Baron Cameron Bowl. The source of the rivalry seems to have been due to a point of conflict over South Lakes being intended to be the high school for all of Reston, but the community was split in districting when the school opened in 1978. The school boundary redistricting process determined that some of the North Reston students would continue to attend Herndon High School and all South Reston students would attend the new South Lakes High School. Today, the two elementary schools in North Reston feed into Herndon, while the rest of the elementary school students go to South Lakes. The boundary between the two is Baron Cameron Avenue.


On rival game days, student sections multiply and fans and players are more excited, even though the teams play in different districts and the game doesn’t count for league play purposes. For 11 of the first 12 years of the Baron Cameron Bowl, Herndon took the title, but out of the following 14 years, South Lakes took 12 victories, to leave the teams each with 13 wins going into the game on a hot Saturday, Sept. 28. For the last nine consecutive years, South Lakes had brought home the hardware, but this time Herndon won for the first time since 2015. Each year, the game means a lot to the players. “We all knew how big of a game it was, not just for us, but the community; we weren’t just playing for ourselves, but for the school too," said senior wide

receiver Ethan Buhler. “Before the game,” said Herndon junior defensive lineman Nana-Freduah Appou, “my brother who plays at UVA now, told me to win it for him, because when he played here they couldn’t win.” Appou went on to have two sacks.
Brayden Humphreys, a senior all-state running back, led the Hornets, running for the most yards any running back has gained against South Lakes this year– he had 20 carries totalling 161 yards. Momentum swung the Hornets’ way after a botched kick, and Herndon went on to win 26-14, to bring the Hornets to a 14-13 lead in the history of the Baron Cameron Bowl.
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