South Lakes Stays Unbeaten With 28-6 Victory Over West Potomac

By BRIAN McNICOLL

As they jogged toward the end zone for their postgame talk Friday night, the South Lakes High Seahawks probably expected at least a somewhat warm welcome from Coach Jason Hescock.

They had defeated West Potomac, 28-6, to go to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2023. Their defense had held the opponent scoreless for a second straight week and allowed just 81 yards and eight first downs. Their offense had scored on three of their first four possessions, and senior quarterback Christian Wyatt had thrown for two touchdowns, run for another and completed 11 of 12 passes on the night.

But that’s not the reception they got. “Did we do what we were supposed to do here tonight?” Hescock asked. “Did we focus like we should? Is this really the best we got? We’re wasting a lot of potential. We have to stop doing that. We have to play a whole game.”

Hescock’s complaint is that the team is real sharp – even dominant at times – for portions of games then takes portions of games off. Against Yorktown, South Lakes led, 40-3 at halftime and won 43-21. In the three games since, they’ve played dominant first halves and basically nothing has happened afterwards.

“You have to play the whole game,” he said later. “It’s going to be come back and haunt us.”

Seahawks Dominate First Half

The Seahawks were a sight to behold early in the game though. They drove 72 yards with the opening kickoff to make it 7-0, then took it to 14-0 on their second trip, then scored another touchdown with 8:17 to go in the half and still another with 1:50 left in the second quarter.

The Wolverines, now 1-2, had 19 yards passing, five yards rushing and two first downs at the half.

"We have stuff to work on, but we studied their cutback lanes and managed to stay in front of them," said South Lakes defensive back Cameron Soto.

Meanwhile, Wyatt was putting together a solid game. He completed two passes and scrambled 17 yards for a touchdown on South Lakes’ first drive. Later in the half, he drove South Lakes 49 yards in six plays, the last of which was a 17-yard strike on a bubble pass to Nick Picarelli. Picarelli, the all-time receiver in South Lakes history, ran in to the right side of the end zone for his first touchdown of the season.

Picarelli finished with a season-best seven catches for 67 yards and a touchdown as the Wolverines draped fellow receiver Joshua Dagby in coverage on the other side. “We watched a lot of film on them, so we had a good idea of what they would do and how they would try to do it,” Picarelli said.

South Lakes’ second touchdown drive required just two plays – a two-yard gain from James Smith, then a 41-yard gain up the middle for a touchdown. “I was reading the defensive line. The guy who was supposed to be in the middle shifted to the right, so I went into the middle and just burst through,” said Smith.

West Potomac Scores On Fumble Return

After Picarelli’s touchdown made it 21-0, the Wolverines scored their only touchdown when they hit Picarelli shortly after he caught a pass, forced a fumble and ran in the fumble recovery from 58 yards out as the Seahawks watched, assuming the pass had been ruled incomplete.

Hescock argued the call, then went out again after the extra point for a clarification, but the call did not change.

South Lakes then added a touchdown late in the half as Wyatt hit Picarelli for 16 yards twice on the drive, hit Dagbe twice, including one for the touchdown, and added two scrambles for first downs.

The scramble was both a weapon and a curse for Wyatt. He led all rushers in just five carries thanks to the scramble. But he twice endured sacks on third downs that took the Seahawks out of field goal range. “I have to learn when the throw it away,” said Wyatt. “There’s a lot to improve on out of tonight, especially on our second half.”

The margin gave the Seahawks the opportunity to use Gavin Satterfield at quarterback and give four carries each to Sean Ventura and Calvin Lucier. It also gave a sense of complacency, Hescock thought.

South Lakes Looks Ahead To Herndon

After stifling the Wolverines in the first half, South Lakes allowed a lengthy drive to start the second half. After that it was three punts for each team and a missed field goal for South Lakes.

“We’re not taking the gas off,” Hescock said. “It’s execution. Silly little things. The bye is coming at a great time. We need to revamp some things, fix our communications, so we’ll be ready for Herndon.”

South Lakes 28, West Potomac 6

Scoring Summary

SL — Christian Wyatt 17 run (James Marburg kick)
SL — James Smith 41 run (Marburg kick)
SL — Nick Picarelli 17 pass from Wyatt (Marburg kick)
WP — Marshall LoCascio 58 fumble recovery return (kick failed)
SL — Joshua Dagbe 13 pass from Wyatt (Marburg kick)

Team Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing — South Lakes: Christian Wyatt 5-54; James Smith 14-47; Joshua Dagbe 3-29; Calvin Lucier 4-14; Sean Ventura 4-4.

Passing — South Lakes: Wyatt 11-of-12, 112 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT.

Receiving — South Lakes: Nick Picarelli 7-67, TD; Dagbe 3-39, TD; George Zarechnak 1-6.