Its best football season in decades ended for the Washington-Liberty Generals Saturday afternoon (Nov. 30) with a loss in the championship game of the 6D North Region tournament.
The second-seeded and previously undefeated high-school team fell to the host and top seed Madison Warhawks, 48-21, in Vienna. Also undefeated entering the game, Madison improved to 13-0 and won its fifth straight region crown.
The Liberty District champion Generals ended the campaign with a 12-1 record. The dozen wins were the team’s single-season highest in the program’s century of competition.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted today, but this team and the players did a lot of good things this season and we created a lot of excitement in the school and community,” W-L coach Josh Shapiro said. “It was a strong effort all season long.”
In the region final, the Warhawks took a 7-0 first-quarter lead, fell behind 14-7 and trailed 14-13 at halftime. Madison started strong and took control in the second half, outscoring the Generals, 28-0, in the third quarter.
“Washington-Liberty played well and did what we expected,” Madison coach Justin Counts said. “They have good players. They made it tough for us in the first half. We made some adjustments on defense at halftime and our players responded well in the second half.”
Washington-Liberty was hurt by three turnovers, one returned for a touchdown in the third quarter.
“In the third quarter we struggled, and things kind of went downhill fast for us,” Shapiro said.
In the first half it was W-L that fought back. Trailing 7-0, the Generals took a 14-7 lead on touchdown passes from Matthew Abramson to Zach Meehan of 32 and 23 yards and Felipe Dieguez extra points.
Madison scored the next 41 points before W-L recorded the game’s final touchdown on a 10-yard Abramson to Jon Malatesta pass with 5:13 left in the game and Dieguez converted.
The 21 points were the most scored against Madison in its five straight region championship-game wins. “At least we can say we did that,” Shapiro said.
Abramson was 31 of 48 passing for 252 yards. Malatesta caught nine for 104 yards, David Toepel had five for 26, Meehan four for 64, Sean Guffey four for 25, Brayden Black three for 11, Anthony Louis three for eight and Trevor Fullen two for five.
Of Washington-Liberty’s 284 total yards, only 32 were rushing on five runs. Abramson was the rushing leader, with 25 yards, and Black had eight.
Madison gained 348 total yards, the majority rushing. The Warhawks had just one turnover, a fumble recovered by Louis. The 48 points were Madison’s most in a single game this season.
“We knew we couldn’t have mistakes against them, so the turnovers hurt us,” Shapiro said.
NOTES: Washington-Liberty was the first Arlington team to play in a region football final since the Yorktown Patriots lost to the Westfield Bulldogs in the 2019 championship game … Washington-Liberty, then Washington-Lee, last had played in a region final in 1975, losing to the Annandale Atoms … only two schools have won the region crown in the past decade; prior to the five in a row for Madison, Westfield won the crown 2015 through 2019 … Madison will host the Lake Braddock Bruins Dec. 7 in the first round of the four-team state finals.
