If Cosby High were a Ford or a Chevy, it'd still have that new-car smell.

From the shiny floors to the gleaming media center to the cheery cafeteria to the spiffy art studio to the landscaped courtyards, there's a showroom feel (and sticker shock only for Chesterfield County taxpayers, maybe) to greet every student and visitor.

The place is barely two years old, after all. Hasn't had time to develop smudges or deep traditions. Won't even graduate its first senior class till June 13. So how come it's, like, kicking fannies and taking names on the playing fields of the Dominion District?

Who can fathom the haste with which college recruiters have descended on a spot that was only a construction project a few ballgames ago? How to explain why the Titans (think these people knew something when they chose a nickname?) got so good so fast? Did they measure everyone's vertical and time for the 40 before culling students off the rolls of Clover Hill, Manchester and Matoaca?

Did they consult genealogy tables? Have they checked birth heights and weights at the local hospitals? Are they bringing in ringers from across the Amelia County line? Is this the expansion franchise to end all expansion franchises?

Whitney Haller, Longwood-bound ace pitcher for the softball squad, giggles at the range of suggestions. She's heard the jokes. She's seen the cocked eyebrows.

"I think it's amazing," she said of Cosby's burst from the starting blocks. "I think a lot of people are so surprised. Everbody wonders [how they did it] 'cause we're only a second-year school."

Here's a partial rundown: The Titans rank No. 1 in the area in baseball, softball and girls soccer and are No. 2 in boys soccer. Six spring-sports athletes have gotten D-1 grants. Girls basketball finished atop the district standings this season. Football was a respectable 5-5. Wrestling claimed the district championship. And so on and so forth.

"We've been," said AD Ted Salmon, "very fortunate."

That's part of it -- the other parts being good staff and above-the-norm athletes who bonded nicely after arriving from various locales. Principal Brenda Mayo brought Salmon and baseball coach Tim Lowery with her from Clover Hill, for example. Girls soccer's Anne Canipe came from Carver Middle and softball's Ray Jeter from Midlothian. Everyone bought in to the program.

So did the kids. Salmon says that "change always creates anxiety," and Jeter admits he worried early on about students "not liking each other." That said, it seems all those former Cavaliers, Lancers and Warriors blended smoothly after a couple of nervous months and just got to winning.

"We were undefined," Mayo said. "We had no idea, to be honest, of the talents of our kids. Our first year, we had mostly freshmen and sophomores. They got a lot of playing time -- we had no choice -- and they rose to the occasion. Now I think the expectation is that Cosby is coming to play. We come to play every match."

And then some, obviously. "Something special is going on," is the way Jeter put it -- which maybe defines the glow when the new school on the block doesn't settle for just showing up and giving it a nice try.

"We're blessed to have some talented kids and a great administration," Lowery said. "When you bring in good people that all have a common goal and expectations are set, I think anything can be accomplished."

Oh, and did I mention the top three scorers for the girls basketball team were sophomores? And JV girls soccer is undefeated?

Good grief.