Two of the larger private school football programs in Northern Virginia are about to get new leaders. In both cases, the schools have turned to coaches with extensive public-school athletic coaching experience.

At Flint Hill, Kirk Peterson, the defensive and recruiting coordinator with Loudoun County High, is pulling stakes and taking his whistle to Oakton. And in Alexandria, at Bishop Ireton, Gary Wortham, Sr., who won a region title with Woodbridge just four years ago, has replaced Chip Armstrong as the interim head of the Cardinal program.

The timeliness of the hiring’s is unique. Not only are Peterson and Wortham aware of each other, they have an extensive history together.

“We coached together at Freedom,” said Peterson, who takes over what is arguably the most successful private program over the past five seasons, replete with a pair of undefeated seasons and VISAA Division I state championships, not to mention alumni such as Jordan Houston (N.C. State), Trey Rucker (recent transfer to Oklahoma State from Wake Forest) and half a dozen others who have matriculated to Division I college programs. “And I helped him with recruiting (athletes for college) when he coached at Woodbridge.”

Adds Wortham, “we had proposed having a benefit game against each other to help both teams.” The pre-season tilt may be downgraded to a combined organized practice because of Washington Catholic Athletic Conference regulations which do not allow for “benefit” type games. But he acknowledges that his path with Peterson is long-standing.