Added together, Arlington’s four boys high-school varsity teams are enjoying their collective best start of a basketball season in decades.
Through Dec. 13 action, the squads had a cumulative 20-3 overall record. One of those three losses was inevitable, as it came in a neighborhood rivalry contest between the Wakefield Warriors and Yorktown Patriots. Yorktown came away with the victory.
The 20-3 combined mark is the best in at least 35 years. How much longer it goes is hard to determine, as specific records before the 1989-90 season are difficult to track down and verify.
“Wow. Let’s go, Arlington,” Wakefield Warriors boys head coach Tony Bentley said about the winning beginning.
Through Dec. 13 action, the private-school Bishop O’Connell Knights had the best record of the Arlington squads, with an undefeated 6-0 mark. The Washington-Liberty Generals and Yorktown were each 5-1 and Wakefield 4-1.
The only comparable start to the season in recent years came in 2016-17, when the four teams opened with a combined 18-6 mark. Last season, the teams were 15-9, and the year before 16-8, during the early part of the seasons.
This past weekend in Friday and Saturday action, the four teams combined for a 7-0 record. Wakefield, W-L and Yorktown went 1-0 in the one-day third annual Braylon Meade Basketball Classic on Dec. 13 at Washington-Liberty. Each also won a game the night before.
O’Connell went 2-0 in the National High School Hoopsfest in Hyattsville, Md. The undefeated mark through its first few games is O’Connell’s best since the 2014-15 season, when the Knights started 12-0.
Washington-Liberty’s 5-1 start this season is its best since 2020-21. Yorktown also began 5-1 last season. Wakefield last started 4-1 in the 2020-21 campaign.
Adding to the significance of the impressive start, some of the four teams’ victories have been against fierce competition.
“We have played a tough and busy early schedule,” Yorktown coach Joe Keimig told ARLnow.
Big wins for O’Connell have been over previously undefeated Imhotep Charter from Philadelphia, Sidwell Friends from D.C., IMG Academy from Bradenton, Fla., league rival Gonzaga, and Heritage of Frisco, Texas.
On consecutive dates — Dec. 12 and 13 — Washington-Liberty won home games against the perennial Concorde District and region contender Madison Warhawks, then downed the two-time defending champion, the South Lakes Seahawks. The Generals also defeated the consistently strong Oakton and Alexandria City teams.
Yorktown’s victories include one over South Lakes, in addition to defeating Wakefield.
The Warriors also have a win over Alexandria City, and bounced back from the lopsided loss to Yorktown with two straight wins.
The Arlington teams continue in action this week, so more victories are possible.
In one of those contests, either W-L or Yorktown will lose at least once more because those rivals meet at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19 on the Generals’ home court. Yorktown also plays Madison (2-3) this week and the Riverside Rams (2-3) of Leesburg on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 11:30 a.m. in a tournament at South Lakes.
Wakefield has two games this week against one-win squads, the second at home on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. against the Herndon Hornets (1-5). The earlier game was against Centreville (1-4).
O’Connell plays games on Dec. 19 and 20 at the Hoopsfest in Paradise in the Bahamas. The Knights face the Milton Eagles (5-2) of Milton, Ga., Dec. 19 and the Kimball Knights (2-4) of Dallas on Dec. 20.
All four Arlington squads then play between two and four games in holiday tournaments prior to the new year.
