They had not met in 42 years. But when the 2025 football season kicked off the night of Aug. 28, the Washington-Liberty Generals used a balanced attack to defeat the Bishop O’Connell Knights in high-school action.
W-L won 55-22 in what served as the season-opener for both squads.
The Generals gained the home victory by taking advantage of five O’Connell turnovers plus dropped passes, along with 87 yards in Knights’ penalties. The Generals gained 379 total yards behind strong passing and running attacks.
“We did a lot of good things, but you can’t have that many mistakes, especially the turnovers,” O’Connell coach Todd Sabatino said of his team’s 429 total yards.
The meeting between the teams was the first since 1983, when O’Connell won 21-0. The squads played each season from 1980 to 1983, with the Knights winning all four comfortably, three by shutouts and the other 48-20.
“That streak took a long time to end,” Washington-Liberty coach Josh Shapiro told ARLnow. “It was a nice way to start a season.”
The renewed 2025 clash was the highest scoring of the five. The Generals rallied from an early 7-0 deficit, taking the lead for good at 14-7 on a three-yard touchdown run by Brayden Black, then Landon Jones’ second of six extra points.
The Generals, after surviving three turnovers, extended the lead to 20-10, were ahead 27-16 at halftime, then outscored O’Connell 21-6 in the second half.
Black led the W-L running attack by rushing for 121 yards. New starting quarterback Tyler Flint-Steinig was 16 of 19 passing for 231 yards and three touchdowns, and wide receiver David Toepel had 11 catches for 187. He caught scoring passes of 44, 13 and two yards.
Also for the Generals, Jasper Dennis ran for 23 yards and two scores.
“We leaned on the strength of our big offensive linemen. They competed well and Brayden is a thumper of a hard runner,” Shapiro said.
The W-L defense was led by junior defensive back Miles Whitaker. In his first high-school football game at any level, Whitaker broke up a pass and intercepted two others that he returned for touchdowns and 54 and 70 yards. He cut in front of receivers to make both interceptions.
Whitaker also made eight tackles.
“Miles is a very good lacrosse player and we have been wanting him to come out for football, because we know he can make an impact,” Shapiro said.
Teammate Tyler Hawkins convinced Whitaker to join the football team.
“We thank Tyler,” Shapiro said.
Hawkins made five tackles against O’Connell, with Henry Fonseca-Cruz, Lavand Aqrawi and Maximus De La Vega recovering fumbles. Jack Eustice made six tackles and Jeremiah Saunders had a number of quarterback hurries.
Leading the O’Connell offense were junior quarterback Ryan Turpin and senior running back Anthony Pham.
Turpin completed 10 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown. Pham ran for 190 yards, including scoring runs of 88 and 38 yards.
Turpin’s touchdown pass went for 19 yards to Zander Schied (four catches, 58 yards). Josh Taliaferro ran for 61 yards, Pierce Hall for 25 and James Fatzinger, Eli Moran and Zavier Reid each caught two passes.
On defense for O’Connell, Jacob Geisler had an interception and Taliaferro forced and recovered two fumbles. Jayden Campbell made six tackles.
