Seahawks Make Offensive Statement With 40-13 Win

RESTON, VA — For the South Lakes High football team, the play of the defensive line has been a given. Even when the Seahawks lost their first two games, their defensive line was a sack-making, run-stopping force.

As for the offensive line … “We’ve had a few problems,” said Joey Falls, the unit’s 5-8, 235-pound team captain and spiritual leader. “From handling our assignments to playing violently to flying around the ball, we hadn’t done what we’re capable of doing.”

That changed Friday night. The Seahawks, going against a Mount Vernon team likely to finish in the top half of its district, rolled up 333 yards and five touchdowns on the ground and defeated the Majors, 40-14, at Mount Vernon.

Senior Cody Wood, who became South Lakes’ first 100-yard rusher on the season with 161 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, has had a running back eye’s view of the progress. “We’re improving every week,” Wood said.” Our timing is getting better. Having the blocks at exactly the right place and time is becoming more common.”

The game didn’t get off to a good start for the Seahawks as they lost a fumble on the opening kickoff, but then the defense did what is becoming its trademark and dominated on the first series.Whereas last week the Seahawks threw their opponents for losses on the first four plays from scrimmage this week, they settled for a 3-yard loss, a play for no gain and another 2-yard loss on fourth down to stop the Majors’ scoring threat.

Two series later, South Lakes got on the board when a reverse run by Nicholas Picarelli put the ball on the Mount Vernon 4 and Wood ran it in on the next play. South Lakes tried razzle dazzle on the extra point – a swinging-gate pass – but the pass went awry and it stayed 6-0.

Mount Vernon, now 0-3, answered with a scoring drive of its own, moving 58 yards in six plays to an 11-yard scoring run by Jahden Butler and looked briefly to have found a formula for moving the ball on offense. But the Majors would get just two more first downs the rest of the half and didn’t come close to scoring until a 40-yard drive late in the third quarter after South Lakes had taken a comfortable lead.

The Seahawks, who improved to 2-2 going into next week’s Baron Cameron Bowl game against Herndon, meanwhile put together their best offensive sequence of the season. They scored on four of their next five drives, with the only exception a possession that ended with an interception deep in Mount Vernon territory.

Wood gained 17, 14, 22 and six yards on consecutive plays to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Mohamed Shuaib to make it 16-6. A similar series with Dalton Blakeney handling the load and scoring on another 2-yard touchdown run made it 23-6 shortly before halftime.

After South Lakes’ defense forced a fumble on Mount Vernon’s first possession of the second half, Piccarelli took a reverse play 35 yards for a score to make it 30-6. And after Mount Vernon’s second half touchdown made it 30-14, Wood answered in one play with a 51-yard touchdown run, and yet another run-heavy drive with many reserves in the game led to another Bertoni field goal, this one form 37 yards out, and a 40-14 lead.

“We had an inside zone play working,” Wood said. “They rushed from the outside, so we blocked it from the inside and created a big path. You just had to be patient and wait for it to open up.”

Seahawks Coach Jason Hescock acknowledged progress had been made but said much more needed to be done. “We really did a good job of doing what we’re supposed to do tonight,” the coach said. “It’s been really small things … your hand placement, when and how far you turn your head for each block. You see those things starting to get cleaned up, but we still have a lot to fix.”

Falls cautioned not to overlook the contribution Wood has made. “Cody makes us look better than we really are sometimes,” Falls said. “He makes the right cut at the right time every time.”

SEAHAWKS NOTES: Falls also announced on Friday that he has committed to play his college ball at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Falls said he went to Carleton College on a visit and met another player named Henry. They became friends on X, where most high school recruiting takes place. When Henry signed with Macalester, Falls congratulated him, and the Macalester coach started following Falls and eventually got him to Macalester as well.

Falls said he expects to play guard or center. “Wherever they need me,” he said. “I just want to play football. It’s what I love.”

South Lakes 9 14 14 3-40
Mount Vernon 6 0 8 0-14
SL-Cody Wood, 4 run (pass failed)
MV-Jahden Butler, 11 run (kick failed)
SL-Nicholas Bertoni, FG 30
SL-Mohamed Shuaib, 2 run (Bertoni kick)
SL-Dalton Blakeney, 2 run (Bertoni kick)
SL-Nicholas Picarelli, 35 run (Bertoni kick)
MV-Antoni Fuentes, 7 pass from Hudson Grimsley (Fuentes run)
SL-Wood, 51 run (Bertoni kick)
SL-Bertoni, FG 37

SL MV
First Downs 10 7
Rushes-Yds 38-333 38-120
Passing Yards 84 71
A-C-I 13-6-1 13-7-0
Punts-Avg. 2-36 6-33
Fum-Loss 1-1 2-1
Penalties-Yds 7-55 3-10

Rushing – SL: Wood 14-161, Blakeney 6-47, Picarelli 2-74, Calvin Lucier 6-27, Christian Wyatt 2-9, Alec Saunders 2-3. MV: JeMario Young 11-43, Maico Barrios 3-36, Butler 1-11, Diego Orendain 6-24, Wisdom Kasah 1-19, Grimsley 10-minus 24.
Passing – SL: Shuaib 13-6-1, 84 yards. MV: Grimsley 13-7-0, 71 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving – SL: Saunders 3-34, Sammy Alfred 3-47, Wood 1-3. MV: Matthew Moret 2-30, Fuentes 3-27, 1 TD; Arion Cole 1-9, Orendain 1-10.