Having successfully hosted the girls and boys 6D North Region tournament-championship basketball games on Feb. 28, Wakefield High School is eager to do the same next season.
The title contests were at 6 p.m. for the girls between the Langley Saxons and Oakton Cougars, followed by the 8 p.m. boys tilt, with the South Lakes Seahawks and Westfield Bulldogs facing off.
Langley and South Lakes won the contests.
The crowd in the Wakefield gym built throughout the girls contest and was pretty much full for the boys game.
Wakefield was assigned the championship games weeks earlier during a region-wide meeting among administrators. At that meeting, Wakefield assistant director of student activities Clarence Martin, also the school’s head football coach, volunteered to have his school host the games.
(Current Wakefield director of student activities Brian Parke had not yet started that new position at the school.)
One of the reasons Martin agreed to have Wakefield host the region finals is because the school, and longtime head boys basketball coach Tony Bentley, have hosted the annual eight-team, three-day George Long Holiday boys basketball tournament in late December for more than 20 years.
With Bentley’s experience running that event, which has four games each day, the coach played a big role in hosting the two region games Feb. 28.
“We were very excited about having the games at Wakefield,” Bentley told ARLnow. “We all put in a lot of effort getting everything ready and taking care of the four teams, making sure they had everything they needed. It was a team effort and a lot of work, but fun.”
Bentley said a key to successfully hosting such an event is to be prepared for many different situations, as simple as having scissors ready for the winning team to cut down the nets.
Longtime Wakefield announcer Joe DeFranco handled similar duties for the region finals.
Head coaches of the teams in the region finals were complimentary of Wakefield’s effort. The experience was enjoyed so much that the Langley girls agreed to travel back to Wakefield from McLean to play a first-round game of the Virginia High School League Class 6 state tournament.
In recent years, the 6D North Region basketball finals have rotated, being hosted by a Fairfax or Arlington high school. South Lakes of Reston hosted the finals a year ago, with Arlington’s Washington-Liberty doing so in 2023.
Bentley said Wakefield would be willing to break that routine and host the contests again next season, if asked.
“We want to have the games again, and hopefully we can,” Bentley said.
