For the fourth straight year, the Washington-Liberty Generals have started the football season with a 3-0 record.
The high-school team’s most recent victory was a 41-27 non-district road win the night of Sept. 10 against the Edison Eagles. It made the football squad one of several W-L teams to start the season strong.
The four-year string of early-season success is one of the best in the football program’s long history.
The Generals also won their first four games last fall, were a perfect 10-0 in regular-season play in 2024 and were 5-0 before a loss in 2023.
“We are proud of where our program has been of late,” longtime W-L coach Josh Shapiro told ARLnow. “We have done a lot here. We have been able to persevere.”
Despite the team scoring a season-high 41 points against Edison, a turnover, some penalties and a couple of defensive breakdowns kept the game close.
The Generals scored on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead, then a turnover kept them from scoring on their next possession and moving in front by two touchdowns.
“We had a chance to go up 14-0 real quick, and if that happens, who knows,” Shapiro said. “Edison had some fast and athletic players, and they hit some plays to take advantage of that.”
The game was tied at 14 at halftime, then at 20 in the second half before W-L took control for good at 34-20.
Senior quarterback Tyler Flint-Steing led the Generals’ offense. He was 20 of 29 passing for 326 yards and threw for five touchdowns. He also rushed for five yards.
Three scoring passes went to Colby Arenson, who caught five passes for 85 yards. Jasper Dennis had two catches for 51 yards, including a touchdown, and Jamal Sullivan caught a 13-yard scoring pass. In addition, Matthew Herring had five catches for 72 yards and Grant Johnson three for 38.
Mikale Gray-Fenny was the leading rusher with 35 yards and had a TD run. Ethan Foster kicked five extra points.
On defense for Washington-Liberty, Levi Fullen had eight tackles, Miles Whitaker five, Dennis four and Jack Dempsey three, including a sack. Tyler Hawkins and Liam Sloan also made three tackles each, and Gray-Fenny and Lando Reed had two each.
Next up for Washington-Liberty is another non-district game, at home in Arlington against the undefeated Westfield Bulldogs (3-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18. The Generals defeated Westfield in regular-season play a year ago.
Westfield has both scored and allowed a lot of points in each of its games this season.
“We need to find a way to run the ball against them,” Shapiro said. “If we do that we can be in the game and win.”
In other Washington-Liberty sports action:
Field hockey: The Washington-Liberty girls field hockey team is off to a strong start this season with a 6-0 record, including two shutouts. The victories are against all non-district opponents, most who have been perennial top teams in recent seasons.
One of those wins was a 2-1 overtime victory over the Lake Braddock Bruins. Other key wins have been over the Robinson Rams, 2-1, the Fairfax Lions, 2-0, the South County Stallions, 4-0, and the Westfield Bulldogs, 4-1.
The 6-0 start is the team’s best this decade.
“I think a lot of our strong start goes back to the expectations we established early on,” first-year head coach Arianna Villegas told ARLnow.
One top player for the Generals has been junior Abigail Bodnar, a first-team all-Liberty District player last season. Another is junior McKenna Kee, a second-team all-district selection in 2025. Others are juniors Margaret Erwin and Keena Dorney, and sophomore Sophia Smith — all honorable-mention all-district last season — along with Olivia Olesak and goalie Caroline Owens.
The Generals, led by first-year head coach Arianna Villegas, are scheduled to open district play on the road Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. against the defending Liberty tournament champion Yorktown Patriots.
Villegas served as an assistant coach last year for the Generals. She told ARLnow:
“The transition from assistant to head coach was pretty seamless because the girls already knew me, how I operate and what I expect from them. Time and mutual respect are really important to me, so they know I’m going to respect the time and work they give to this program, and I expect that same respect and commitment in return. Having that understanding already there allowed us to hit the ground running.”
Cross country: In cross country, the Generals won a recent boys four-team Liberty District 2 meet at Lake Fairfax. Nick Talbot, Andrew Kint, Parker Camp, Gavin Malatesta, Koh Tamaki and Harrison Recksiek were the top runners in the meet for W-L. Talbot won the 5,000-meter race in 18:57.
In the girls meet, Washington-Liberty finished second, with Eva Van Mertens and Lilla Thompson the top two runners.
Golf: The Generals, the defending champions in both the Liberty District and 6D North Region golf tournaments, are having a strong season entering this week’s 18-hole league tournament.
The Generals finished second in the recent nine-hole, three-team Arlington County match and have won multiple dual matches against district rivals.
In the county match, W-L carded a 155 team score, led by 37s from Colin Hanley and Ethan Shinn. Fletcher Black shot 40, Nori Carr 41, Carter Jeffers 42 and Dominic Tamburro 43. Emmett Spence is another top player for the Generals, but did not play in the county match.
District wins have been against McLean, Marshall and Herndon.
The Generals will be in the running to defend their district-tourney title.
Volleyball: In volleyball, the Washington-Liberty Generals girls team began the week with a 3-4 overall record and stood 1-2 in the Liberty District. The squad’s victories were over South Lakes in district play and Westfield and Lake Braddock in non-league matches.
In boys volleyball, the first-year W-L varsity team has a 3-2 overall record. The wins were against the Wakefield Warriors in district play and Broad Run and Meridian in non-league matches.
