The Yorktown Patriots’ 38-16 home victory over the Wakefield Warriors in an all-Arlington Liberty District clash Sept. 13 sets up two big possibilities for the high-school football team in its next game.
If undefeated Yorktown (3-0, 1-0) wins that road Sept. 20 contest against the also 3-0 Washington-Liberty Generals in another district and all-county showdown, the victory will be the 300th in the 45-year head football coaching career of longtime Patriots coach Bruce Hanson. A win will also earn the squad the unofficial 2024 Arlington championship among the three public-school rivals. The Generals are the defending champs.
Hanson has coached Yorktown since the 1985 season (39 years), winning 269 games as the Patriots’ head coach. His other 30 victories came when he coached Wakefield from 1974 to 1979.
Yorktown’s win over Wakefield was its 27th straight. Wakefield last defeated Yorktown in 1995. The rivals did not play in the shortened 2020 pandemic season.
Leading this fall’s Yorktown victory over Wakefield was quarterback Drew Morgan. He completed seven passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns of six and 47 yards to Finn Luca, and he ran for scores of six and 22 yards. Morgan also rushed for 52 yards. Luca caught four passes for 83 yards.
“I’m more concerned that we played better against Wakefield than 300 wins,” Hanson said. “I knew it was a good possibility we could lose to Wakefield because they are immensely better, and we had not been playing well. We threw well, but we had a couple of drops that hurt us.”
The score was tied at 7, then Yorktown took the lead for good at 21-7, as Wakefield fell to 1-2, 0-1.
Yorktown’s other touchdown was a one-yard run by Nate Randles, who led the team in rushing with 81 yards. Max Yoon kicked five extra points and a 24-yard field goal for Yorktown.
Jordan Romero Gutierrez had 52 yards rushing for Yorktown and Coby Casalengo 28 on three carries before leaving the game with a leg injury. Randles, Max Troiano and Sammy Keiser each had one catch.
Yorktown had 316 total yards and Wakefield 243.
Wakefield runningback Isiah Ledbetter was the Warriors’ leading rusher and had an eight-yard touchdown run. Ashton Hirst had a two-yard scoring run, and Ricardo Perez-Justiniano kicked an extra point and 24-yard field goal. Wakefield was hurt by three turnovers, all lost fumbles.
