Between them, girls and boys varsity public high-school basketball teams in Arlington have six regular-season rivalry games scheduled this season.
The first contest was a boys clash Thursday night, Dec. 11, when the host Wakefield Warriors (3-1) lost to the Yorktown Patriots (4-1) by a 73-41 score in Liberty District action.
In addition to Wakefield and Yorktown having one more regular season boys game this season, there are other upcoming all-Arlington girls and boys showdowns including the Warriors, Patriots and Washington-Liberty Generals.
The next is a doubleheader Friday, Dec. 19 between host W-L and Yorktown, with the boys game at 5:45 p.m. and the girls at 7:30 p.m.
In the Dec. 11 meeting, Yorktown led throughout, building early leads of 7-0 and 14-13. Wakefield rallied to within 7-6 and 14-13, then the Patriots surged and were ahead 27-16 at halftime and 51-27 after three quarters.
“Give Yorktown credit,” Wakefield head coach Tony Bentley told ARLnow. “They have size, they have good shooters and they are good.”
Yorktown shot 56% from the floor and made eight three pointers. In contrast, Wakefield shot poorly — 23% from the floor — and made just 7 of 23 foul shots.
Yorktown coach Joe Keimig said his team played better in the second half after a halftime discussion.
“It was a good team win. We turned it up in the second half and our defense was better,” Keimig said. “The most important things are we are now 1-0 in the district and we have to continue to play good defense.”
Forward James Davis led Yorktown in scoring with 12 points to go with eight rebounds. Forward Garrett Schmelling had 10 points, guards Jake Coulam and Sam Roosa each scored nine and had seven and four assists, respectively, with two threes each, and forward Charlie Ganbaatar scored nine and made two three-pointers.
Also, guards Walton Butler and Leo Sandoli each had five points, six rebounds and two assists, and forward Benny Vandall scored five. The Yorktown bench scored 30 points, and 12 players overall scored for the Patriots.
“We had a lot of players involved,” Keimig said. “They all like each other and look for each other on the court.”
Leading Wakefield in scoring was senior guard captain Jeremiah Poole with 14 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Dyson Beaty scored nine and had three steals, and senior forward Tre’Sean Evans had four points, seven rebounds and blocked a shot.
Also for Wakefield, sophomore guard Tyson Ordenes had four points, four rebounds and three steals.
The victory was Yorktown’s third in a row over Wakefield and fourth in the last five games.
The Patriots were 2-0 against Wakefield last season. Wakefield went 2-1 against Yorktown in the 2023-24 season, winning a first-round district playoff meeting for the second win.
In its previous game this season, host Yorktown defeated the two-time defending Class 6 state champion South Lakes Seahawks, 64-54, in non-district action. The Patriots jumped out to an early lead and were ahead the rest of the way, up 15-8 after the first quarter, 30-23 at halftime and 47-39 after three periods.
“We were able to shut them down a little in the second half,” Keimig said.
In that victory, Roosa scored 19 points, Davis 12, Coulam 11, Schmelling nine and Matt Langley eight.
Prior to playing Yorktown, Wakefield defeated Alexandria City, 63-48, in a home game as Poole scored 21 points and Zak Amadou scored 12. Wakefield then defeated Justice, 68-64, in Dec. 12 action. Poole scored 18, Amadou 13 and Rayvon Hackley 10.
Typically, intra-Arlington games draw sizable crowds. But lively student sections for home and away youth fans were missing from the Dec. 11 game, with those sections at Wakefield eliminated for reasons that were not announced.
“The atmosphere was dead tonight without that student section,” Bentley said.
