The Washington-Liberty Generals defeated the Bishop O’Connell Knights for the second straight season in an all-Arlington high-school football showdown.
Visiting W-L won the Aug. 28 non-conference contest, 35-21, in the fall opener for both squads. Because there is no field lighting at O’Connell, football games are played in the afternoon.
Last year, the teams met at W-L in a nighttime showdown, with the Generals winning 55-22.
That 2025 meeting was the first between the Arlington squads in 42 years. The two-year rivalry agreement included that each team would host a game. It has not been determined if the Knights and Generals will play again in 2027.
“The games between two Arlington teams are a lot of fun,” O’Connell coach Todd Sabatino told ARLnow. “Our team was looking forward to this one.”
In this year’s game, the total yardage was nearly identical, with W-L gaining 328 and O’Connell 327.
The difference was two Washington-Liberty fumble recoveries and long returns, one for a touchdown and the other setting up a TD. These allowed the Generals to take control by scoring 28 unanswered points in the second quarter after falling behind 7-0 in the first.
“You can’t make mistakes like that and give up two touchdowns. That might have been the difference,” Sabatino said. “It’s an even game otherwise.”
O’Connell had a touchdown called back because of a penalty, and also suffered a setback when starting quarterback Ryan Turpin left the game in the second half with an injury. Key two-way starter Xavier Reid was injured and did not play.
The Generals led 28-13 at halftime and increased the advantage to 35-13 in the fourth.
Leading the W-L offense was senior quarterback Tyler Flint-Steinig, aided by senior wide receiver Matthew Herring and the all-around play of senior Jasper Dennis.
“Tyler buys time when he passes and finds receivers. Herring played great and Jasper was phenomenal wherever he played,” W-L coach Josh Shapiro said.
Flint-Steinig was 22 of 30 passing for 273 yards and threw three scoring passes. Herring caught eight passes for 150 yards, including scoring receptions of 11 and 48 yards.
Dennis ran for 32 yards and caught six passes for 79. On defense, he had a long return on a fumble recovery that set up a touchdown, and he punted well on special teams.
Also for W-L, Colby Arenson caught a five-yard touchdown pass, Jamal Sullivan had a nine-yard TD run and scored on a 31-yard fumble return. Ethan Foster kicked five extra points. Arenson had six catches for 28 yards and Mikale Gray-Fenny ran for 19 yards and had one catch.
O’Connell’s offense was led by senior quarterback Turpin and backup Conor Schied, running back Nick Morris and receivers Jake Sikra and James Fatzinger.
Turpin and Schied each completed six passes for 43 and 101 yards, respectively. Morris ran for 115 yards, including scoring runs of 80 and five yards. He caught two passes and had a couple of long kickoff returns.
Fatzinger caught four passes for 46 yards. Sikra ran for 85 yards, including a 75-yard scoring run on a broken play, caught two passes for 48 yards and had a long kick return.
Also, Pierce Hall had a two-point scoring run.
On defense for W-L, Eyl Jackson and Amin Elgindy each had a sack. Eyl and Gray-Fenny each made five tackles and Dennis and Grant Johnson had four each.
For O’Connell, Leul Robel and Santiago Aceves Villanueva teamed for a sack and Aceves Villanueva made 13 tackles. Scott Shaw made nine tackles, two for losses, Kaiden Alt made eight (two for losses) and Jayden Campbell and Tim Robertson made six tackles each.
“What I liked is we remained fired up and continued to play that way with fire for the whole game, even after we fell behind,” Sabatino said.
Shapiro said, “I thought we were two even teams and the turnovers played a big role in the outcome. And I thought our defense is getting better and held its own.”
Last season’s meeting between the teams was the first since 1983, when O’Connell won 21-0. The squads played each season from 1980 to 1983, with the Knights winning all four comfortably, three by shutouts and the other 48-20.
In its next games, W-L hosts the McLean Highlanders in Liberty District action at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3 and O’Connell plays at John Paul the Great at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4.
NOTES: This season’s opening-game victory was the sixth in a row for Washington-Liberty … An interesting twist about the game is that Sabatino was a former assistant coach under Shapiro at W-L, and current O’Connell quarterback coach Andrew Bolfek played that position in high school for the Generals.
