First place will be on the line Saturday (Nov. 2) when the Washington-Liberty Generals play at the Langley Saxons in a 4 p.m. Liberty District high-school football showdown.
Defending champion Washington-Liberty enters the game undefeated at 8-0 and atop the standings with a 4-0 record. Langley stands 7-1, 3-1.
A victory would clinch at least a tie for the title for the Generals.
Both teams have played well all season, with high-scoring W-L averaging 43.5 points per game and allowing 10.4. Langley scores an average 34.4 points a contest and gives up 14.1.
Washington-Liberty routed the visiting McLean Highlanders, 47-8, in its previous game behind a productive passing attack. Langley also had a strong air game in a 48-14 home win over the Yorktown Patriots in its last game. The Generals have passed the ball with consistently high efficiency all season.
Washington-Liberty head coach Josh Shapiro said a key to defeating Langley will be maintaining a successful ground game and strong time-management.
“Langley is good and playing well, so we need to run to ball and keep possession,” he said. “Their quarterback [Cole Samburg] is very good, so we need to play well against him.”
No matter the result of the game, Washington-Liberty already has clinched a berth into the eight-team field of the 6D North Region tournament playoffs, the third straight for the team. The Generals’ seed in the postseason field is not yet determined, but would likely be No. 1 or 2 with a victory over Langley followed by a win against the Wakefield Warriors in the final regular-season game.
In other Saturday Liberty District football games involving Arlington teams, Yorktown hosts the Marshall Statesmen (6-3, 3-2) at 5 p.m. and Wakefield (2-6, 0-4) plays at McLean (3-5, 0-4) at 1 p.m. Yorktown needs at least one and possible two wins in its final two games to guarantee a region-playoff berth.
The unusual late-afternoon start for Yorktown is due to issues surrounding availability of officiating crews.
In Nov. 2 private-school action, Arlington’s Bishop O’Connell Knights (1-7, 0-2) face the host Bishop Ireton Cardinals (5-3, 0-2) at noon in a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Metro Division game.
