Until It Was Ours: How The 2025 Strasburg Rams Turned Heartbreak Into History

“This book is about high school football, specifically Strasburg High, which means it is about home, and homecoming, and homesickness, and a journey through the things time takes and the precious few it can never touch.”

— Wright Thompson, ESPN, New York Times best-selling author

For generations, high school football in Strasburg, Virginia, meant pride and tradition but also unfinished business.

The Rams built one of the state’s most respected small-school programs, shaped by Hall of Fame coach Glenn Proctor, a long line of standout players, and decades of success. But a state championship always remained just out of reach. Five times Strasburg advanced to the title game. Five times it returned home empty-handed.

Then came 2025.

As the Rams chased history, head coach Tripp Lamb faced a battle of his own. Just weeks before the season, Lamb was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in eight years. Through surgery, chemotherapy, and countless challenges, he remained on the sideline while his players rallied around a simple goal: finish what generations before them could not.

Until It Was Ours is more than the story of a football season. It is a story about a small town, a proud program, and the people who refused to let heartbreak define them. Through interviews with players, coaches, alumni, and community members, author Ryan Sonner traces the history of Strasburg football — from its earliest championship dreams and painful near misses in the 1980s and 1990s to the unforgettable journey that finally brought a title home.

This is a tale about perseverance, community, and what happens when decades of hope, disappointment, and determination collide.

For the people of Strasburg, this championship was never just a trophy.

It was history.

And, at long last, it was theirs.