Oakton coach Pete Bendorf knew that sometimes the difference in a football game comes from the more unexpected of places.

Billed as a clash between No. 6 West Springfield's big-yardage rushing offense and Oakton's stingy ground defense, it turned out to be the Cougars' special teams that made the biggest impact Friday night in their 24-10 victory over the host Spartans.

``I told the kids before the game, `With all things being equal, special teams is going to decide this game,' " Bendorf said.

The importance of special teams was felt twice within the first four downs of the game, starting when a receiver's slip on the opening kickoff put West Springfield (1-2) on its own 11-yard line for its first drive.

The poor field position and an early lockdown by Oakton's defense led to a Spartans punt - which was returned down the right sideline 45 yards for a touchdown by Cougars senior quarterback Pat Day to give Oakton (2-1) a 7-0 lead just 2 minutes, 27 seconds into the game.

``The first three minutes we played bad on special teams," West Springfield coach Bill Renner said. ``We fell down on the kickoff and started in bad field position, which made [Oakton] aggressive. And then they returned the punt for a touchdown. I think that was huge."

But that wasn't the end of the Spartans' special teams woes.

On the kickoff to start the third quarter, Oakton senior wide receiver J.D. Morgan broke out a long return, getting all the way to West Springfield's 44 before being taken down.

The return sparked a 7-play drive that ended with Cougars senior running back John Pettiford's 2-yard scramble into the end zone to put Oakton up, 21-0, with 9:09 left in the quarter.

``That kickoff return by J.D. there was critical," Bendorf said.

And when the big plays weren't coming from the Cougars' special teams, Oakton's offense and defense was able to turn it on at the right moments.

Though Day went just 1-for-8 for 10 yards in passing, he led Oakton's rushing with nine carries for 110 yards.

Two of those runs out of the option were for a big gain - a 40-yard carry during Pettiford's touchdown drive, and before that a 43-yard touchdown run with 5:21 left in the first quarter which gave the Cougars a 14-0 lead.

``We optioned the [West Springfield defensive] end with a pitch," Day said about the rushing touchdown. ``I gave him a little fake, and I guess he had the pitch man so he went out there. We had a good block up the middle and there was nobody there."

The run into the end zone gave Oakton not just a two-touchdown lead, but the leeway from that point forward to attack on defense and control the clock on offense.

``[Day] put them in a position where they could play the kind of game they wanted: ball possession, blitzes," Renner said. ``You can't be down 14 points against teams in this region. That was a big deal."

Knowing that West Springfield's offense desperately needed similar big plays to get back into the game, Oakton's defense held strong not only on the ground - as expected - but in the air as well.

Spartans senior quarterback Matt Smith was 5-for-15 for 42 yards passing in the game, including a first half where he connected on just three of 10 passes and threw an interception.

``In the first half we missed guys wide open, we dropped a couple of passes, and it put them right into what they wanted to do," Renner said. ``Every time we play Oakton, they're going to make us throw and catch the football [because of the Cougars' strong rushing defense]. We knew that, we worked on that, and we didn't get it done."

That made West Springfield's offense stay grounded, playing more into the hands of Oakton's defense as it aimed to prove that Spartans junior running back Derrick Braziel could not tear the Cougars up for 200 yards and three touchdowns as he had done in Week 2 against Centreville.

The Cougars worked on closing the middle, forcing the Spartans' rushers to the sidelines before they could even run forward to gain yardage. West Springfield's entire rushing corps gained just 157 yards on 39 carries. Braziel carried the ball 27 times for only 93 yards.

``What we wanted to do was not let anything split up the middle - make it go sideways," Bendorf said. ``Our outside linebackers had to make a lot of plays, and they really did."

Oakton senior outside linebacker Dan Bauers recorded 15 tackles, five for a loss, and leveled a sack on Smith with 36 seconds left in the second quarter to move the Spartans five yards back to Oakton's 25. West Springfield's closing 37-yard field goal attempt went wide left, keeping the team scoreless in the first half.

``That [sack] was huge," Day said. ``They were getting pretty close. I was getting a little nervous. But our defense held when it counted, and we knew we couldn't let the defense down after they stepped up for us."

The only time West Springfield did get the better of Oakton's defense was on an eight-play touchdown drive that ended with a 22-yard run off of a reverse by senior wide receiver Sean Navin with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

A 37-yard Spartans field goal scored on their next drive - making it 21-10 at the end of the third quarter - made it seem like West Springfield was ready to mount a comeback.

But a fumble on the team's first drive of the fourth quarter was recovered by Oakton, which ran nearly six minutes off the clock before putting a 27-yard field goal attempt through the uprights with 3:21 left.

That proved to be not enough time for West Springfield to manage one touchdown, let alone the two it needed to tie the game.

``This was a huge win," Day said. ``West Springfield's a perennial playoff team. They had a great game against Centreville last week, they've got a lot of good players, so to beat them that's going to be great power points. That's going to be a lot of good momentum going into the district."