From game one, the Washington-Liberty Generals were highly motivated to pull off an undefeated regular-season record this fall.
On Saturday (Nov. 9), it was a case of mission accomplished.
With a 38-7 road victory over the Wakefield Warriors (2-8, 0-6) in Liberty District high-school action, Washington-Liberty managed its first 10-0 regular season since 1956. The 2024 mark came after going 9-1 a year ago, with its lone defeat by a single point in an overtime loss.
“The players didn’t write down any goals for this season, but they were very mature about doing this and were so success-driven,” Washington-Liberty coach Josh Shapiro told ARLnow. “They were motivated by coming so close to 10-0 last season. That really bothered them.”
“We had consistency and balance offensively and defensively all season,” Shapiro said. “I give credit to our seniors for their discipline and maturity. We started the season off right and have kept it rolling.”
With the win over Wakefield, W-L finished as Liberty District champions for the second straight year, likely earning the No. 2 seed behind 10-0 Concorde District champion Madison in the upcoming eight-team 6D North Region tournament playoffs.
“This is not a surprise. We expected to go 10-0,” Washington-Liberty wide receiver Jon Malatesta said. “We practiced hard for this every day. We wanted our practices to be harder than our games.”
As they did throughout most of the season, the Generals took control early against Wakefield. They led 14-0 in the first quarter and 28-7 at halftime, then added 10 more points in the fourth quarter.
Leading the Washington-Liberty offense against Wakefield was the passing of senior quarterback Matthew Abramson. He was 20 of 30 for 384 yards and two touchdowns. Abramson’s scoring passes went to Malatesta for 34 yards and to Sean Guffey for 10.
Guffey also had a one-yard scoring run, as did Ben Hughes from two yards. The versatile Guffey completed one pass for 15 yards, rushed for six more and caught five passes for 67.
Malatesta had five catches for 185 yards, David Toepel five for 37, Zach Meehan and Trevor Fullen had two catches each, Ian Crowley and Brayden Black one each.
Guffey also had a 31-yard interception return for a TD, Landon Jones booted a 34-yard field goal and Felipe Dieguez made five extra points.
The Generals had 448 total yards, including 49 rushing. Black and Abramson each ran for 15 yards and Dylan Guzman for nine.
On defense for the Generals, Toepel broke up three passes, Crowley had two sacks and batted down two passes, Guffey broke up a pass and had a tackle for a loss, and Hughes had a tackle for a loss.
Including last season, Washington-Liberty has won 10 straight district games. The Generals were 5-1 in the district last year.
For Wakefield, senior runningback Isiah Ledbetter rushed for 133 yards, including a 92-yard scoring run. He also caught two passes for five yards. Ricardo Perez-Justiniano kicked an extra point.
Sophomore quarterback Judah Connor was 16 of 29 passing for 81 yards. Andrew Mason had six catches for 31 yards, Matthew Johnson four for 26, and Daniel Bryan and Andrew Walton caught two each.
On defense for Wakefield, Seth Bradberry and Ashton Hirst had tackles for losses, and Phillip Galadima and Greg Jones broke up passes.
Wakefield ended the 2024 campaign with five straight losses, but saw improvement from 2023 and 2022, when the team had no wins.
“We made progress this season and we were in a lot of games. We were hurt by a lot of injuries and some bad breaks,” Wakefield coach Clarence Martin said. “We played well in stretches and had good execution at times.”
The Generals’ 2024 schedule was much different in the 1956 season. Coached by Bob Waldorf and then known as Washington-Lee High School, there were games against Richmond opponents Hermitage and Thomas Jefferson, Lynchburg’s E.C. Glass, Woodrow Wilson of Portsmouth, Northwestern of Prince George’s County, George Washington of Alexandria and Wakefield.
In 1956, Yorktown High School was not yet in existence, and because of Virginia’s policy of segregated schools then in place, all-white Washington-Lee and Wakefield could not play their Arlington counterpart Hoffman-Boston High School.
