Westfield junior quarterback Mike Glennon has heard it all before. From youth league football all the way through high school the comparisons were inevitable. That’s the way it is for any kid who plays the same position as a talented older brother.
So while former Bulldogs star Sean Glennon was leading Westfield to a Virginia Group AAA Division 6 state title in 2003 and earning a scholarship to Virginia Tech, where he now starts as a redshirt sophomore, his younger brother was watching. And learning. Entering the Division 6 Northern Region championship game against Chantilly on Saturday, Mike Glennon knows firsthand the pressure he’s about to experience. He’s dealt with it his entire life.
“It was something where I always looked up to Sean, hoping I could be that good one day,” Mike Glennon said. “And that might never happen. But that’s still okay because not too many people around here have been as good as Sean was. I just know that I’ll never be satisfied with my own performance. I’ll always have room to improve.”
Mike Glennon has done pretty well for himself already. A part-time starter as a sophomore, the strong-armed 6-foot-6, 185-pounder has blossomed into Northern Virginia’s top pure passer. With a roster overwhelmingly made up of underclassmen, it was thought undefeated Westfield (11-0) might be a year away from title contention. Instead, Mike Glennon and the Bulldogs have a shot at the program’s second region title.
In 11 games he has completed 113 of 188 passes for 1,536 yards, 17 TDs and just four INTs.
“I think people might have underestimated us at the beginning of the season,” Mike Glennon said. “We’ve done well so far. But we have a chance to form our own identity so we can’t stop now.”
Division 6 Northern Region Final
» Chantilly (8-3) at No. 4 Westfield (11-0), 1 p.m. Saturday
» Second meeting of the year for these two Concorde District rivals, whose campuses lie just 4.4 miles apart in western Fairfax County. Westfield won the first game, 34-28. Chantilly last won a region championship in 1996 on its way to the Virginia Group AAA Division 6 state title.
