It took until the postseason, but the Washington-Liberty boys volleyball team emerged as a true Cinderella story.
That’s when the third-seeded boys volleyball squad, playing its inaugural season in the varsity high-school sport, won the Liberty District tournament by upsetting the No. 1 seed, host and defending champion McLean Highlanders, 3-1, in the championship match.
The Yorktown Patriots won the biggest football victory of the regular season over the weekend, one of many accomplishments for the high-school sports program in recent weeks.
Other notable achievements included two postseason championships won by the girls cross-country team and an individual girls golf highlight.
With its latest victory, the Bishop O’Connell Knights are assured of not having a losing regular-season record in football for the first time since going 5-5 in the 2021 high-school campaign.
The win was a 23-0 shutout over the visiting St. John’s Catholic Prep Vikings in non-conference action Oct. 24 in Arlington. The triumph gave O’Connell a 5-3 overall mark with two games remaining. The worst the Knights can finish is 5-5, like five seasons ago.
Led by runners from all four grade levels — some experienced, others not as much — the Washington-Liberty Generals had a strong showing at the annual Arlington County high-school cross-country championship meet.
The varsity event was held on the sunny afternoon of Oct. 7 on the 5,000-meter Bluemont Park course.
The Yorktown Patriots’ current two-game gridiron winning streak continues a trend. It comes against opponents the high-school football team has regularly defeated since the 2020 season.
The squad’s most recent victory came at home by a 3-0 score against the Marshall Statesmen on Friday, Oct. 2 in Liberty District action.
With a strong 3-1 start, including two shutouts, the Bishop O’Connell Knights are seeing their best start in a dozen years.
The Arlington private high-school football team won its third-straight game by blanking the visiting and previously undefeated Northern Virginia Home School Centurions, 48-0, Sept. 26 in non-conference action.
The success of Yorktown High School’s co-ed golf team has been a highlight of the school’s athletic program at the start of the fall sports season.
The Patriots have already won two tournament championships, the latest being the annual three-team Arlington County match. Prior to that, Yorktown won a multi-team tourney hosted by Madison High School.
For a fifth season, the Bishop O’Connell Knights girls field-hockey team continued to find success under the leadership of Megan Sullivan.
This fall, the high school squad won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament for the first time, nipping top seed St. John’s, 1-0, in the championship match.
Two girls fall teams at Yorktown High School enjoyed success in recent Liberty District tournaments, with each recording upsets along the way.
The second-seeded Patriots’ field hockey squad won the district title for a fifth straight time, with the third-seed volleyball unit finishing second in its tournament.
The standout fall season enjoyed by multiple Bishop O’Connell High School sports teams was highlighted when four different head coaches for the private-school Knights athletic program received Coach of the Year accolades.
Earning Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors were Megan Sullivan for girls field hockey, Chris Jennings for boys soccer and Alerto Starace for girls soccer. Mehdi El Alaoui was the Division I state Coach of the Year for girls volleyball.
Over the past five seasons, there were two aspects worth noting about home girls varsity field-hockey matches at Yorktown High School.
First and foremost, there were the Patriots’ contests on the field. But simultaneously, there was a free, live YouTube-streamed broadcast of the matches.
Three standout senior girls field-hockey players who helped the Yorktown Patriots win a 2024 state championship were honored with Class 6 all-state selections.
Senior forward Elena Reiser was chosen as the Virginia High School League Player of the Year at the Class 6 level. Reiser scored 15 goals, had nine assists and took 62 shots in 22 games for Yorktown, which finished 18-4 in winning its second straight state title and third in four seasons.
