A fifth straight defeat resulted in a double-whammy of bad news for the Wakefield Warriors in Liberty District high-school football action on Halloween eve.
Wakefield’s 42-22 road loss to the Herndon Hornets officially eliminated the Warriors (3-6, 0-5) from a region playoff berth, and means the team will have a losing overall record in its final regular-season contest no matter what.
Prior to the losing streak, the Warriors owned a 3-1 record and had hopes of further success.
Overall, the Warriors have been much more competitive in games this season, as they continue to rebuild under third-year head coach Clarence Martin after consecutive 0-10 seasons in 2022 and 2023. Wakefield won two games last season.
“We have continued to play hard and not give up in games all season,” Martin told ARLnow.
Against the Hornets (3-6, 2-3), Wakefield fell behind early and couldn’t catch up. Herndon built leads of 21-0, 28-3 and 35-6.
The Warriors did mount a late rally, as they have consistently done in past setbacks, but it wasn’t enough.
Wakefield’s scoring came on junior quarterback Judah Connor’s touchdown passes of 13 yards to Andrew Mason and 35 to Xavier Winkelmann, an extra point by Andrew Jackson and a two-point conversion pass to Chris Gilpin. Jackson also booted field goals of 31 and 43 yards.
The touchdown passes gave Connor 14 for the season, as he will throw for more than 2,000 yards this fall in the Warriors’ no-huddle, up-tempo passing-oriented offense. He completed 15 passes for 156 yards against Herndon and ran for 19 yards. Winkelmann had six catches for 65 yards, Aman Azad three for 39 and Mason two for 30.
Jackson has booted seven field goals this season, three times making two in a game.
Herndon, which will be assured of a region-playoff berth with a victory in its final game, scored on multiple big plays, including scoring runs of 26 and 40 yards and a TD pass of 41.
The Warriors have struggled to stop the running game of opponents during the losing streak.
Wakefield will conclude its season by hosting the McLean Highlanders (2-7, 1-4) at 7 p.m. in district action Friday, Nov. 7.
The three victories — or four if they win Friday night — in 2025 will be the most in a season for Wakefield since finishing 5-5 and making the 6D North Region playoffs in 2021.
O’Connell falls to 2-7 after shutout loss: In other high-school football action involving an Arlington team, the Bishop O’Connell Knights fell to 2-7 with their second straight shutout loss, falling to the host Carroll Lions, 43-0, Nov. 1 in Maryland.
The Knights dropped to 1-2 in the Metro Division of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, with one regular-season game to play on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. on the road against the St. Paul VI Catholic Panthers (6-, 2-1) in Metro Division action.
Against Carroll, O’Connell running back Nick Morris ran for 44 yards and caught three passes for 10 yards. He has nearly 700 yards rushing this season.
The Knights struggled to move the ball against the bigger Carroll defense. Quarterbacks Ryan Turpin and Piero Fichera each completed only a couple of passes, and were sacked multiple times.
“Nick gained some yards running in the second half, but we didn’t get much else going,” O’Connell coach Todd Sabatino said.
On defense for O’Connell, Xavier Reid had an interception and Kian Kaboli broke up a pass in the end zone.
O’Connell currently is in fourth place in the Metro Division and has clinched a playoff berth. The squad is projected to face first-place St. Mary’s Ryken in the first round.
NOTE: The Knights need a win in one of their final two games to surpass last season’s victory total of two.
