The 2025 high-school football season began and ended in a similar fashion for the Yorktown Patriots — with bookend losses to the South Lakes Seahawks.
Playing at home, Yorktown fell to South Lakes, 24-17, Friday evening (Nov. 14) in a first-round game of the 6D North Region tournament playoffs.
An incomplete Yorktown pass at the goal line on the game’s final play as time expired secured the victory for the Seahawks (6-5), who rallied from a 10-0 first-half deficit to build a 21-10 advantage after three quarters.
Two lost fumbles proved costly for Yorktown, with one setting up the Seahawks’ go-ahead touchdown to take a 14-7 lead on the last play of the first half.
The loss ended a three-game winning streak and the season for the Liberty District champion Patriots, giving them a final 7-4 overall record.
“We had more turnovers in this game than we’ve had in a while, and they hurt us,” Yorktown coach Alec Hicks told ARLnow. “They took away and switched the momentum in the game.”
Yorktown lost its 2025 season opener 29-28 on South Lakes’ home field back in late August in a similar manner. The Patriots had first-half leads in that contest — 7-0 and 20-8 — but the Seahawks rallied. Yorktown missed a field goal very late in the game that would have given the Patriots the lead and possibly a win.
In the playoff game, Yorktown’s touchdowns were scored by Colt Monticello on a two-yard run and Alex Hans’ seven-yard pass from Samson Schneider in the fourth quarter. Max Yoon booted a 41-yard second-quarter field goal and made two extra points.
Monticello’s TD capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive on Yorktown’s opening possession. Yoon’s field goal also ended a nine-play drive covering 68 yards. Hans’ touchdown finished an eight-play march.
The Patriots began their potential game-tying or winning drive with 44 seconds to play on their 48-yard line. They moved to the South Lakes 5-yard line when a third-down pass was batted away to end the game.
“South Lakes made some plays and adjustments after getting behind, then we came back strong and didn’t quit after we fell behind and we had a chance at the end,” Hicks said. “That showed a lot from our players and their leadership. The loss is disappointing, but we were the district champion and had a winning record, so we are proud of that.”
Yorktown gained 280 total yards, most on Schneider’s performance. He completed 21 of 32 passes for 191 yards and ran for 70 more.
Hans had seven catches for 105 yards, Monticello had six for 19, Sammy Keiser four for 14 and Brady Owens and Boston Izzo two each.
Jack Ezzedin ran for 14 yards and Monticello for nine.
On defense, Yorktown had trouble stopping various short passes that turned into long games for South Lakes. The Seahawks were hurt by penalties all game long, having two touchdowns nullified because of infractions.
Yorktown’s defense did have three big fourth-down stops, the last giving the Patriots the ball with 44 seconds left in the game.
“At times we made big plays on defense and had big stops,” Hicks said.
On defense for Yorktown, Jack McCorry had an interception (his third this season) and he and Bobby Shea had multiple tackles, some for losses. Henry Midberry and Andrew Cole had sacks. George Cocker broke up a pass and had a tackle for a loss. Others with tackles for losses were Nicky Palma and Alex Len.
NOTE: The playoff berth was the Patriots’ fifth in a row, with the home postseason contest their first since the 2021 campaign, also resulting in another first-round loss to South Lakes. In 2023, Yorktown defeated South Lakes in a first-round playoff game.
