Points were abundant in blowout victories by Arlington’s three public-school teams in their second games of the 2025 high-school football season.
Two of the Sept. 5 wins were home, non-district blowouts for the Yorktown Patriots and Wakefield Warriors, now both 1-1, in public-school contests.
Yorktown blanked Jackson-Reed of D.C., 50-0. Wakefield skunked Rock Ridge of Ashburn, 42-0.
The undefeated Washington-Liberty Generals (2-0) were triumphant on the road, 41-20, over the McLean Highlanders in a Liberty District contest.
Yorktown gets wins under new coach: For Yorktown, the victory was the first for new head coach Alec Hicks. The Patriots dominated winless Jackson-Reed, 0-2, from the start. The squad led 29-0 after the first quarter, scoring on its second offensive play when Colt Monticello ran 51 yards for a touchdown and Max Yoon booted his first of multiple extra points.
Yorktown amassed 348 total yards to just 47 for Jackson-Reed, which had no passing yardage.
Yorktown lost its opening game, 29-28, to South Lakes.
“We did a lot of work in practice and corrected a lot of things and mistakes after losing our first game,” Hicks told ARLnow. “Losing to South Lakes motivated the guys. So this was a good all-around rebound win.”
Also for Yorktown in the win, Sammy Keiser caught five passes for 76 yards, two for touchdowns from quarterback Samson Schneider of 18 and 25 yards. Jack Ezzedin had a 61-yard kickoff return for a score, Boston Izzo had a 13-yard TD run, and Justin White and Jack McCorry had interception returns for scores of 22 and 38 yards, respectively.
Schneider was 5 of 6 passing for 76 yards and McCorry 1 of 1 for 14.
On the ground, Monticello ran for 100 yards, Nate Randles for 82 and Ezzedin for 53. Alex Len had a catch for 14 yards.
On defense, Bobby Shea was among the leading tacklers and Jackman Finnerty forced a fumble that led to a Yorktown safety.
Wakefield scores most points since 2019: Wakefield also scored early and often in its win, leading 35-0 at halftime over 1-1 Rock Ridge. The 42 points were the Warriors’ most in a game since scoring 46 in game seven of the 2019 campaign.
The loss snapped Wakefield’s six-game losing streak, spanning two seasons.
Quarterback Judah Connor rushed for 52 yards and also had a productive passing game for Wakefield by going 19 of 22 for 304 yards. He tossed five touchdown passes and completed passes to eight different receivers.
Saswat Aryal also was a contributing offensive weapon, catching five passes for 43 yards and a TD and rushing for 11 yards. Xavier Winkelmann had four catches for 60 yards and a score; Chris Sewell had three catches for 71 yards and a touchdown; and Andrew Mason had three receptions for 62 yards and a score. Chris Gilpin, the team’s top receiver, had a touchdown catch as well for Wakefield.
Andrew Jackson booted six extra points.
Sean Perry led the Wakefield defense with 10 total tackles. Nathen Grey had a sack and a fumble recovery, Connor Morrison had a sack, Santiago Aceves Villanueva recovered a fumble, Brayden Murray deflected two passes and Mason had an interception.
The win was a nice comeback for Wakefield after its 38-17 opening-game road loss to Falls Church, as a result of multiple mistakes on special teams.
“The Rock Ridge game was a much better representation of Wakefield football,” Warriors’ coach Clarence Martin said. “We were locked in and had a great week of practice after that loss. The players were mad and motivated so they came into the next game with something to prove.”
W-L falls behind but bounces back: Washington-Liberty fell behind McLean 7-0 as a result of a 100-yard interception return. The Generals bounced back to lead 28-14 at halftime and were comfortably in front the rest of the way.
“After that early mistake … we did things well and were pretty proficient,” W-L coach Josh Shapiro said. “We passed and ran the ball well, our offensive line did a good job of moving people around, and the defense played OK.”
The district win was Washington-Liberty’s 11th straight over three seasons. The Generals were the district champions the past two seasons, going 6-0 last fall.
“It’s nice to be 2-0, but getting that first district win is the most important thing,” Shapiro told ARLnow.
In the win over McLean, W-L quarterback Tyler Flint-Steinig was 16 of 22 passing for 273 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring passes went to tight end Gavin England. He had three catches for 27 yards.
David Toepel had six receptions for 103 yards and a score, and he also ran 42 yards for a touchdown. Trevor Fullen had four catches for 76 yards, Grant Johnson three for 16 and Luke Jones two for 17. Runningback Brayden Black had a catch for 10 yards and rushed for 119 yards and a TD. Jasper Dennis had nine yards rushing and a touchdown.
On defense for Washington-Liberty, Henry Fonseca-Cruz had a sack and forced a fumble, Jeremiah Saunders had a sack and Jack Eustice and Lando Reed were among tackling leaders.
O’Connell dropped by St. Albans: In private-school action, also the night of Sept. 5, Arlington’s Bishop O’Connell Knights also were involved in a blowout — but on the wrong side of one. They lost to the St. Albans Bulldogs, 42-0, at The St. James indoor facility in Springfield.
St. Albans scored long touchdowns on its first two offensive plays, and was ahead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. O’Connell was hurt by first-round turnovers, and wasn’t able to mount much of an offensive threat.
NOTE: Hicks was a longtime Yorktown assistant coach before taking over as head coach during the offseason. Another longtime Yorktown assistant was Joe McBride, now the first-year head coach at Woodson High in Fairfax. Both also played football at Yorktown. McBride also picked up his first win the night of Sept. 5 when Woodson blanked the Edison Eagles, 22-0.
