Suddenly It’s Not So Early Anymore For The Seahawks

By BRIAN McNICOLL

A week ago, the South Lakes High Seahawks were cruising along at 5-0, ranked among the top teams in the state in power points and being whispered about as at least a co-favorite to win the Concorde District.

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On Friday night, when the Seahawks travel to Chantilly, they find themselves in as close to a must-win game as you can get in Week 6 of the regular season and Week 2 of Concorde play.

South Lakes comes in off a stunning 42-38 loss to Oakton, in which they blew a 17-point lead after the Cougars were improperly granted a fifth down in South Lakes territory. The Seahawks lost not only the game but much of their margin for error. Chantilly lost, 24-0, to Centreville.

That means the loser of the Chantilly-South Lakes game will be 0-2 in the district. If it's South Lakes, that means the Seahawks would have to run the board against Centreville, Madison and Westfield or get massive help. Chantilly, 3-3 overall, likely would need to sweep Oakton, Madison and Westfield to get in.

South Lakes Coach Jason Hescock said his team has had a good week of practice, dealt frankly with what happened in the Oakton game and, in fact, saw a lot of good things on the game film.

Teddy Gill, the Seahawks' sophomore right tackle, had the highest grade among the offense linemen for the third third straight week, Hescock said. Sophomore linebacker Yusef Atiya had an "outstanding first half," that included an interception, the coach said.

Senior safety Cameron Soto was awarded a blackshirt this week, which puts him among the elite of the team in terms of "embodying the best of what we want our guys to be … both a good leader and productive on the field," Hescock said.

Soto joins quarterback Christian Wyatt, receiver Nick Picarelli, two-way standout Joshua Dagbe, defensive end Sebastian Valencia, linebacker Colin Wall and kicker James Marburg.

Hescock said he saw Marburg running sprints by himself after practice as self-imposed "punishment" for failing to land all seven kickoffs in the end zone last week. Marburg's 45-yard field goal did not earn him a break from himself, Hescock said.

He also cited Marburg's efforts at taking on the punting job. He had a 50-yard punt in the Oakton game. "He's absolutely killing it," Hescock said. "Field position is so huge in the Concorde. You're not going to drive the ball all the way down the field often against these defenses. Flipping the field is everything in these games."

South Lakes allowed more touchdowns last week against Oakton than it had the entire season before that. The Seahawks gave up a season-high 317 yards through the air but limited the Cougars to 51 rushing yards on 31 carries.

The Chargers don't have the high-powered attack of the Cougars, but they do rely on steady performers, including running back Jahrod King, who averages 55 yards per game, receiver Aidan Scire (32 yards per game) and sturdy quarterback Liam Featheringham, who has eight touchdown passes.

South Lakes, on the other hand, very nearly did have the firepower to match the Cougars. In fact, they had matched it for more than 3 ½ quarters. The Seahawks completed 10 of 15 passes for 147 yards and rushed for 120 more. Wyatt threw for one touchdown and ran for another. James Smith had two rushing touchdowns, and Dagbe had a 61-yard catch-and-run for a score.

"We made them go deep into their bag," Hescock said of the Cougars. "And don't be surprised if we see them again. But that will only happen if we take care of business the rest of the way, which starts with Chantilly on Friday night."