With a victory, the Loudoun County private school could call itself the best basketball team in the country. The only thing standing between the Panthers and such a perch was Montverde Academy, the vaunted athletics powerhouse from central Florida.

The Eagles operated on another level from Paul VI and just about everyone else in the country this season. They entered this meeting at 33-0, and flexed their muscles from the start of Saturday’s title game in Indianapolis in a 79-63 win.

“It felt like a college game,” senior guard Darren Harris said. “The pace and the physicality were crazy. A lot of Division I players out there. Obviously a challenging game, but it was a good experience. We wish we could have won, but we respect them.”

Maryland commit Derik Queen, a 6-foot-10 forward, finished with 19 points for the Eagles. Duke signee Cooper Flagg, a 6-7 senior forward and the nation’s No. 1 recruit, had 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.

Harris, a 6-6 guard also committed to Duke, led the Panthers with 16 points, while senior forward Isaiah Abraham added 12. The Panthers handled IMG Academy in the quarterfinals and knocked out defending champion Link Academy in Friday’s semifinal.

Despite falling short of a third postseason trophy, Saturday’s game marks the end of a sterling season for the Panthers (35-3). Over the past three years, the Panthers have gone 97-12 and won eight tournament titles.

“It feels good to know my teammates and I have left that kind of mark on the program,” Harris said. “We just wanted to leave Paul VI in an even better place than we found it.”

Last spring, after years of finishing as runner-up, the DeMatha boys won their first Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title since 2009. Now the Stags are focusing on recapturing what carried them there.

“We’re more relaxed because we know that we’re the team to beat,” senior captain and No. 2 singles player Jacob Poole said. “But also we have to be a little more focused now because … the teams in our conference are gunning for us.”

After key wins at the bottom of the lineup helped clinch last year’s WCAC title, Poole says DeMatha’s biggest challenge is getting its young talent ready to carry matches.

Coach Mark Dalzell put the young Stags to the test during nonconference scrimmages against Bullis and Churchill at the start of the season. In both instances, DeMatha’s top veterans secured wins but the inexperienced bottom of the lineup struggled.

“It was a rude awakening in a way because it showed us that we’re pretty good, but we still have some work to do,” Poole said. “I’m personally grateful that we did it so we would be more focused in the season, and it’s been paying off so far.”

After those two losses in scrimmages, DeMatha has gone 4-0 in conference matchups to reclaim its spot atop the league standings. The Stags face tough upcoming matches against St. John’s, Georgetown Prep and Sidwell Friends.

One month into the season, the Washington-Liberty Generals are off to a 5-0 start that includes wins last week over Hayfield and South Lakes. Tuesday’s overtime victory over the Hawks was especially meaningful after the Generals opened last season with a 2-0 loss against to Hayfield.

Even though that Hayfield team went on to make a deep postseason run, the season-opening defeat shook Washington-Liberty’s confidence.

“We started off really slow last year and had to work to turn it into a strong season,” senior midfielder Joey Cordaro said.

This year, the Generals and Hawks battled into extra time, testing the early-season fitness of both teams. In the second overtime period, Washington-Liberty midfielder Ibou Diouf finished off a cross from junior Andrew Kennedy to secure a win.

“Everybody was cramping toward the end of that one,” Cordaro said. “We really played our hearts out, so it felt good to come away with a win.”

With a handful of nonconference wins in hand, the Generals turn their attention to district play. Washington-Liberty competes in the Liberty District, one of Northern Virginia’s most competitive and tumultuous groupings.

“Right now we’re really just trying to get a feel for this team and trying to build chemistry every day,” Cordaro said. “The Hayfield game helped that process a lot.”

For most, spring break is an opportunity to catch up on rest. But for Paul VI, these past two weeks were as busy as any stretch all season.

Playing nine games in 13 days, the Panthers (11-3) traveled more than 5,000 miles and competed against teams from eight states. After a tournament in Las Vegas, Paul VI went on to win the Southeastern Baseball Classic title in Hartsville, S.C., beating DeMatha, 7-4, in the championship game.

That workload requires meticulous management of a pitching staff, and Coach Billy Emerson is spreading the starts around. More than halfway through the team’s schedule, no Paul VI pitcher has reached the 20-inning threshold, with four combining for a no-hitter against Juan Diego Catholic (Utah).

“Our guys are probably going to be a little bit more fresh toward the end of the season,” Emerson said. “We’re getting them a ton of experience, and we’re maximizing guys.”

The Panthers, however, appear plenty comfortable in a slugfest, possessing ample firepower to hit their way out of trouble. They have scored at least 10 runs in half their games, including a 15-12 victory over Hanover (Va.) on Wednesday in which they erased a seven-run deficit.

Emerson hopes that balance will help his team compete for a WCAC championship. Paul VI enters this week with a 4-0 league record that includes a 14-10 win over defending champion St. John’s.

“I used the term ‘meat-grinder’ for what we went through over the last 13 days,” Emerson said. “The WCAC schedule can be that as well.”

Marlin Newsome despises the cold. It tightens his muscles, clamps him up and irritates his face.

As the Centennial senior ripped off layers of clothing at the Park Invite in Severna Park on Saturday, he was reminded of frigid early-season meets. Newsome wasn’t expecting a fast time.

But then he clocked a personal-best 10.79 seconds in the 100 meters, finishing second behind Calvert Hall College’s Gabe Levrone (10.77). Newsome also won the 200 (21.92).

He did not anticipate his strong performance, but his coach did.

“I haven’t been surprised with anything Marlin does,” Corey Eudell said.

Newsome started running track as a sophomore solely to increase his speed for football. Competitive meets were not a focus.

“He [told] me, ‘Coach don’t put me in a meet, because I don’t want to get smoked,’ ” Eudell recalled.

Newsome is now leading a resurgence of the Eagles program. Known as a strong distance school, the Howard County program is emerging as an overall contender.

Eudell said Newsome’s late start and slower times as a junior contributed to a lack of collegiate offers. Coppin State has expressed interest, and Newsome has a new routine that could protect from any cold weather in Baltimore.

“Soon as the race ended, I went to go get my jacket and my sweatpants and get bundled back up,” he said.