‘Really Just Guys Doing Their Jobs'

RESTON, VA — South Lakes High’s defense set the tone with tackles for losses on its first four plays from scrimmage, and a balanced offense took over for there as the Seahawks rolled over Falls Church, 48-6, before a near-capacity homecoming crowd Friday night at Pat Bergen Stadium.

The game began with losses of five and four yards by Falls Church quarterback Elijah Lewis, followed by a 3-yard loss on third down by Sean Gresham as the Seahawks, now 1-2, overwhelmed the Jaguars, 0-3, in the trenches.

“Really just guys doing their jobs,” said defensive end Amare Thaxton, who led on two of those three tackles and the 10-yard sack that began Falls Church’s next possession. “We’ve been working real hard all week for this. It’s been a physical week. We upped the intensity, and we flipped the script.”

South Lakes’ defense recorded eight tackles for loss. Other than a 47-yard carry by Falls Church’s Gewa Noah on the last play of the first quarter, South Lakes limited the Jaguars to 34 yards rushing on 31 carries. The Seahawks also came up with their first interception of the year when Thaxton and Xvavier Swain, who dominated his side of the line as well, forced an ill-advised pass that Canyon King stepped in front of for South Lakes near midfield.

“The thing about the defense is it gave us great field position all night,” said South Lakes Coach Jason Hescock. “We spent most of the game on their end of the field.”

The impressive defense on the first series gave South Lakes the ball on the Falls Church 31, and it took just three plays for Mohamed Shuaib (15-8-0, 150 yards) to hit Matthew McArthur for a 19-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-0. King’s pickoff set up the Seahawks at the 45, and Cody Wood (15 carries-91 yards) scored the first of his four touchdowns on a 5-yard run to put South Lakes up 14-0.

After Noah’s big play and a 26-yard pass from Lewis to Santana Euell gave Falls Church its only score of the night, Nicholas Picarelli almost broke the kickoff return for a score and gave the Seahawks the ball in Falls Church territory. Six plays later, Wood scored again from six yards out to make it 21-6.

A fourth-down sack by Swain that gave South Lakes the ball in Falls Church territory again also led to a Seahawk score – a 1-yard run by Wood that made it 28-6 with 44 seconds left in the half.

Any fears of a Falls Church comeback were dashed in the first two minutes of the third quarter. Another good Picarelli return gave South Lakes the ball at its 42. A 40-yard pass from Shuaib to Alec Saunders took the ball to the Falls Church 13, and Wood scored two plays later on a 5-yard run.

South Lakes sophomore linebacker Sebastian Valencia then recovered a pooch kick at the Jaguar 35, which led to a 34-yard run by Dalton Blakeney and a 1-yard dash by Saunders to make it 42-6 with 10:08 still left in the third quarter.

“Sebbie came up big,” Hescock said after the game. “He’s been making some plays for us.”

Saunders capped the scoring with a 27-yard touchdown run later in the period, and Saunders and sophomore Calvin Lucier carried the offense the rest of the way.

Special teams even got into the act. Kicker Nick Bertoni made a touchdown-saving tackle on a kickoff return and had two 47-yard punts in the game. “You see why we make the kickers go practice tackling with the linebackers now,” Hescock said. “You never know.”

“Both of our quarterbacks executed well. Our defense played well. There are things to clean up, but we know we can do it.”

Falls Church 0 6 0 0-6
South Lakes 14 14 20 0-48
SL-Matthew McArthur, 19 pass from Mohamed Shuaib (James Marburg kick)
SL-Cody Wood, 5 run (Marburg kick)
FC-Santa Euell, 26 pass from Elijah Lewis (kick blocked)
SL-Wood, 6 run (Marburg kick)
SL-Wood, 1 run (Marburg kick)
SL-Wood, 5 run (Lila Jaster kick)
SL-Alec Saunders, 1 run (Marburg kick)
SL-Saunders, 27 run (kick failed)

FC SL
First Downs 10 10
Rushes-Yds 32-81 30-198
Passing Yds 87 150
A-C-I 20-6-1 16-8-0
Punts-Avg. 3-27.3 3-41.7
Fum-Loss 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds 2-7 7-85

Rushing – FC: Lewis 22-8, Gewa Noah 1-47, Sean Gresham 6-14, David Marcia 3-12. SL: Wood 15-91, Saunders 4-34, Dalton Blakeney 2-45, Christian Wyatt 3-21, Calvin Lucier 4-minus 3.
Passing – FC: Lewis 20-6-1, 87 yards, 1 TD. SL: Shuaib 15-8-0, 150 yards, 1 TD; Christian Wyatt 1-0-0.
Receiving – FC: Euell 2-58, 1 TD; Christopher DeWolfe 3-22, Noah 1-7. SL - Saunders 2-59, Nicholas Picarelli 2-35, McArthur 3-34, 1 TD; Wood 1-22.