A soccer season that began with uncertainty when two standout players unexpectedly did not return has become yet another significant winning campaign for the Bishop O’Connell Knights.
The girls high-school team began the week in first place in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference with a 6-0-1 mark with five shutouts, and stood 10-1-1 overall. O’Connell is expected to be the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The Washington-Liberty Generals need victories in their final two regular-season games to outright win a third straight Liberty District football championship.
But it won’t be easy. The first-place Generals (7-1, 4-0) are set to face tough opponents following a bye week.
The end result was a familiar story when the Wakefield Warriors and Yorktown Patriots met in their annual all-Arlington high-school football showdown.
With the bleachers full on both sides, Yorktown won for the 29th straight time over Wakefield with a 45-6 victory Friday night (Oct. 17) on the Warriors’ home field in Liberty District action.
The latest two inductees in the Arlington Sports Hall of Fame are the first from any high-school soccer team, girls or boys, in the local sports pantheon’s nearly 70-year history.
The Oct. 8 induction dinner, held at the Knights of Columbus on Little Falls Road, enshrined Alberto Starace and Gabriella “Kika” Toulouse as the latest honorees in a hall of fame that stretches back to the 1950s.
With their worst game of the season behind them, the Wakefield Warriors won’t dwell on the lopsided setback, because the high-school football team has an Arlington rival next up on the schedule.
Wakefield (3-3, 0-2) lost to the host Langley Saxons, 56-7, in Liberty District action Friday night (Oct. 10). Next up on its home field Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., Wakefield hosts the district-leading Yorktown Patriots (4-3, 3-0).
Although neither high-school football team has won many games in recent seasons, the Bishop O’Connell Knights and Bishop Ireton Cardinals still play their version of a Super Bowl each fall.
The annual contest pits the longtime Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) private-school rivals each year in a regular-season clash. A victory earns 12 months of bragging rights and, usually, a berth into the WCAC Metro Division playoffs.
The Washington-Liberty Generals continue their winning ways against Liberty District opponents.
And for the fourth straight high-school football season, the Marshall Statesmen have been on the lopsided end of losses against W-L.
The three-game winning streak for the Yorktown Patriots came to an end Friday night (Oct. 10) in high-school football action.
Host Yorktown (4-3) fell to the West Springfield Spartans, 31-7, the squad’s third consecutive loss to the Patriot District team.
They haven’t won any of the games, but Bishop O’Connell’s high-school football schedule the last three seasons has included the addition of a trio of nearby opponents.
The Knights have played the Flint Hill Huskies and Potomac School Panthers for the first time ever in private-school contests, and resumed an all-Arlington rivalry with the public-school Washington-Liberty Generals.
Four new champions — two individuals and two teams — were crowned at this year’s Arlington County high-school cross-country meet, held Sept. 29 at Bluemont Park.
Among those was a rookie in the race: Molly Hardwick, a sophomore for the Yorktown Patriots, who helped her squad win the girls team crown. Hardwick was running the Bluemont Park course for the first time, briefly making a wrong turn, but still winning in 17:51.
A close but still disappointing runner-up finish in last year’s region golf tournament helped motivate the Washington-Liberty Generals to win this fall’s event.
The Generals captured the 36-hole 6D North Region tourney by carding a two-day score of 298-319–617 on the par-72 Bristow Manor Golf Club near Manassas.
The McLean area has seen enough of the Yorktown Patriots this season.
In games the past three Friday nights, Yorktown has defeated a trio of Liberty District public-school rivals from that area. In order, the Patriots downed the Langley Saxons and McLean Highlanders, then on Oct. 3 routed the host Marshall Statesmen — located on the McLean/Falls Church border — 42-14.
