Three members of the Bolfek family were present and working hard along the sidelines in different roles during an opening-season high-school football game in Arlington between the host Washington-Liberty Generals and visiting Bishop O’Connell Knights.
The youngest of the three was Andrew Bolfek. The 2025 University of Virginia graduate and former W-L starting quarterback was busy in the O’Connell area as a first-year assistant coach for the Knights.
His father, Justin, was working both sidelines and was the busiest of all three that night. Justin Bolfek is Washington-Liberty’s director of student activities, so he was running the entire event and was the man in charge.
Also present and active was Mark Bolfek, Andrew’s uncle and Justin’s older brother. Mark was working the chain crew, as he has for many seasons at W-L home games.
The chain crew was located on O’Connell’s visiting sideline. So Mark and Andrew were always in close contact. Justin Bolfek occasionally wandered over that way to casually be nearby.
“Having us all here in different manners is fun,” Mark Bolfek told ARLnow. “Andrew is learning something new by coaching, and Justin and I are doing the same things.”
A few days before the contest, Andrew said he was looking forward to the family-friendly event, adding he would be rooting for O’Connell.
O’Connell took a quick 7-0 lead, but Washington-Liberty won, 55-22.
“The first thing we did that night when we got home was talk about the game,” Justin Bolfek said. “Andrew felt good about O’Connell’s effort. We agreed the game was closer than the score indicated.”
The three Bolfeks had been involved in games together in previous years when Andrew was playing for Washington-Liberty.
“We used to all be on the same sidelines for the same teams,” Justin Bolfek said. “So this was different.”
Prior to taking over as O’Connell’s head coach three seasons ago, Todd Sabatino was an assistant at Washington-Liberty, and coached Andrew Bolfek when he played for the Generals. Sabatino watched the accurate-throwing Andrew have a couple of highly-productive 400-plus-yard passing games for W-L.
When Andrew graduated from Virginia in June, Sabatino contacted Bolfek about being the Knights’ quarterback coach.
“We wanted Andrew because he knows the game and position of quarterback well, and we knew he would be a very good addition to our staff,” Sabatino said.
During that W-L vs. O’Connell contest, Justin Bolfek was busy with all of the game details and didn’t have a lot of time to visit his son and brother. They did gather for a photo at game’s end.
The last couple of varsity seasons a different combination of three Bolfeks also were working during W-L home football games. Justin and Mark were doing their usual jobs while Andrew’s younger brother, Jackson, was playing various positions on the field for the Generals during his junior and senior campaigns.
Jackson graduated from Washington-Liberty in June and is attending Liberty University this fall. He also was a standout swimmer and youth coach this past summer for the undefeated and Division 9 champion Dowden Terrace Dolphins (5-0) of the Northern Virginia Swimming League.
In addition, Jackson was the Division 9 breaststroke champion in the boys 15-18 age group.
Going forward, there is the possibility a third Bolfek son, Dane, now age 9, might make for another football-family gathering during Washington-Liberty games.
Mark Bolfek said he plans to hang around until Dane is old enough to make the decision to join any of the W-L football teams or not.
UPCOMING GAMES: In third-week football action Friday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. for Arlington teams, Washington-Liberty hosts the Edison Eagles (0-2); the Yorktown Patriots (1-1) visit the Centreville Wildcats (0-1); and the Wakefield Warriors (1-1) visit the Lewis Lancers (1-0).
On Saturday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m., Bishop O’Connell hosts the St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes Saints.
