As the team’s third new head coach in five seasons, Brian Slay has set realistic expectations for the Wakefield Warriors in the upcoming high-school football campaign.
Slay inherits a squad that won few games the previous four years, and victories could be a challenge again this fall with a young, sophomore-heavy unit.
With that in mind, Slay’s goal is for the Warriors to keep things simple to start.
“The biggest thing is we are focusing on the little things and working on fundamentals,” he said. “We want to be competitive in every game and compete hard on every snap. If we do that, good things can happen sometimes.”
Wakefield finished 3-7 overall and 0-6 in the Liberty District last season, losing its final six games. The Warriors were 2-8 in 2024 and 0-10 in the two seasons before that.
Wakfield’s last non-losing season was a 5-5 campaign in 2021, and the team enters 2026 play having lost 24 straight district games over four seasons.
Wakefield opens the season at home today (Friday) at 7 p.m. against the Falls Church Jaguars in a non-district game.
One of the biggest bright spots for Wakefield is the return of senior quarterback Judah Connor for his third year as the starter. Connor consistently proved tough last season by passing for 2,291 yards and 18 touchdown passes. He ran for another 190 yards and two TDs.
Connor is 25 pounds heavier this season, making him more durable.
“Judah is a smart kid on and off the field,” Slay said. “And he isn’t that skinny kid anymore.”
Connor will lead a more balanced offense this season, in contrast to last fall’s pass-oriented approach with a limited running attack.
“We will run the ball a lot more this season and be physical,” Slay told ARLnow.
Another returning weapon for Wakefield is senior place-kicker and punter Andrew Jackson. He was one of the district’s top performers at both positions last season.
Sophomore Miles Robbins will be a top running back with sophomore Aiden Davis as a top wide receiver. The offensive line is anchored by returning junior guard Jack Smith and junior guard Xavier Beauvais.
Leading the defense will be senior Aman Azad and junior Brayden Murray as defensive backs, with Smith and Beauvais likely playing some along the line, in addition to returning senior nose guard Antonio Warlock. Azad could be a receiver on offense as well.
“We have some skill and talent, we just have to work through some things,” Slay said. “We’ve had some challenges early in practice. But finally we had some days of normalcy and things are trending in the right direction.”
Wakefield’s early-season schedule is favorable. Its second, third and fourth games are against Rock Ridge, Lewis and Justice, all of which won little last fall. The Warriors defeated all three last season.
The schedule gets considerably harder after that, with district games against Washington-Liberty, Langley and Yorktown in weeks five, six and seven. Those three were the district’s best teams in 2025, and Wakefield lost to all of them.
Slay comes to Wakefield after being the head coach of the Oakton Cougars the previous two seasons. His teams had four wins each of those years, stabilizing a program with few wins in the seasons prior to his arrival.
