There may be no trophy awarded to the winner of the unofficial Arlington County high-school football championship, contested each year between the jurisdiction’s three public-school teams.
But the Wakefield Warriors, Washington-Liberty Generals and Yorktown Patriots compete hard for bragging rights each fall.
The team that finishes 2-0 against its rivals is deemed the community champion, and this year’s battle for the title could be closer than any in recent seasons.
Former Yorktown head coach Bruce Hanson always played up the rivalry games. If his Patriots didn’t win the title, as they often did, the offseason was a disappointment to Hanson, even if Yorktown qualified for the region playoffs.
“Winning the county championship is always our big goal,” Hanson often said.
Other Arlington high-school sports, like cross country, golf, track and field and wrestling, do have official county championships, held in one-day, single-event competitions. In football, the quest for the unofficial title spans multiple weeks.
“You throw out the records when those games are played. We look forward to them,” Wakefield coach Clarence Martin told ARLnow.
First-year Yorktown head coach Alec Hicks said those games are nerve-wracking times for the coaches, because no one wants to lose.
Washington-Liberty coach Josh Shapiro said defeating the Arlington rivals is a huge deal for his players.
“They want to win those games every season more than any others,” Shapiro said.
This season, the first showdown among Arlington football teams is this week on Friday, Oct. 3, when Washington-Liberty (4-1) hosts Wakefield (3-1) at 7 p.m.
The next is Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. when Wakefield hosts Yorktown (3-2).
Finally, on Thursday, Oct. 30, Yorktown hosts Washington-Liberty at 7 p.m. in the last all-Arlington clash.
If Wakefield wins on Oct. 3 and Oct. 17, the county crown will already be determined before Yorktown and W-L play.
Wakefield last won the county title in 1995 with a 2-0 mark, and enters the Oct. 3 game having lost seven straight against county rivals. Since 2000, Wakefield has a 9-39 record against the two other schools.
Yorktown’s record against county opponents since 2000 is 44-6, with W-L’s 20-31.
Yorktown has won the most county championships over the past quarter century with 19, including 13 in a row from 2000 to 2012.
Washington-Liberty broke Yorktown’s streak with a 2-0 mark to win the 2013 title, the first of four for the Generals during the period since 2000. Washington-Liberty is the two-time defending county champion, having won five in a row against its county rivals.
Yorktown last lost to Wakefield in 1995, winning 28 straight meetings since.
NOTE: In 2015 there was no county football champion because all three teams finished 1-1. There also was no county winner during the shortened 2020 pandemic season.
The first meeting between Wakefield and Washington-Liberty was in 1955, with Wakefield winning 19-7. Wakefield first met Yorktown in 1961, also winning, 26-0. Yorktown and W-L first met in 1961, with Yorktown winning 6-0.
