South Lakes Football Starts Strong, Ends Disappointed

By BRIAN McNICOLL

It was another week of a fast start followed by a disappointing finish for the South Lakes High football team.

The Seahawks scored the game’s first touchdown, led after a quarter but got shut down on offense after that and allowed Westfield to pull away for a 40-13 victory Friday night at South Lakes.

After not allowing more than 28 points in any of its first seven games, the Seahawks have now allowed 40 ore more in three straight.

South Lakes, which finished the regular season 5-5 overall, 2-3 in the Concorde District with Friday’s loss, will travel to Yorktown on Friday night to take on the Patriots, 7-3,overall and 6-0 and champions of the Liberty District. The Seahawks defeated the Patriots, 29-28, on Aug. 28 in the season opener for both teams.

Westfield, which improved to 7-3, 4-1, finished second in the Concorde and will entertain Washington-Liberty (7-3, 4-2 in the Liberty District) in another first-round game. The Generals defeated the Bulldogs, 14-13, on Sept. 19.

It took 26 plays for the ball to cross onto the Westfield side of the field on Friday night. The Seahawks started with it but couldn’t move, and a short punt set up Westfield at the South Lakes 35. They drove to a 29-yard field goal by Raj Batchala and a 3-0 Bulldog lead.

Another possession led to another short punt, and Westfield started again in South Lakes territory. This time, Batchala’s 41-yard attempt hit the left upright.

It wasn’t until five plays into the next drive that South Lakes junior quarterback Christian Wyatt hit wide receiver George Zarechnak over the middle for a 68-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-3 Seahawks.

“We were doing well early on,” said Wyatt. “Our offensive line was really blocking, and we were clicking. But then it stopped. I promise we’ll be ready to go next week. All this did was make us practice harder for Yorktown.”

Other than the first two plays after the ensuing kickoff, the ball didn’t cross midfield again for another 18 plays, by which time Westfield had driven to a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Ryan Carlson and taken the lead for good at 9-7.

In all 46 of the first 50 plays in the game and 97 of the 128 plays overall were run from Seahawk territory.

South Lakes responded with a drive that reached the Westfield 35, but a fourth down pass into traffic ended the threat. Two plays later, Westfield scored again on a 63-yard pass from Carlson to Malachi Lee.

Lee, who scored four touchdowns and rushed for 114 yards against South Lakes in last year’s 49-21 Westfield victory, finished with five catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns on Friday night.

After Lee’s first touchdown, the ball stayed on the Westfield side for another 17 plays, leading up to a 29-yard field goal for Batchala that gave Westfield a 19-7 lead at halftime.

After a quick three-and-out for Westfield to start the second half, the ball returned to the South Lakes end for 13 of the next 14 plays, during which Westfield racked up an interception and another touchdown drive to make it 26-7.

A 44-yard kickoff return and a 30-yard catch by Nick Picarelli got the Seahawks to the Westfield
25, but two penalties and a sack ended the threat. Westfield then overcame six penalties on its next drive to move 92 yards and make it 33-7.

“Obviously this is not the situation we wanted to find ourselves in,” Hescock said of the field position. “We just never could flip the field.”

South Lakes would move the ball some after that as Westfield backed off defensively. They rode a series of scrambles by Wyatt to their final score, a 12-yard pass from Wyatt to Picarelli that made it 33-13 with 4:36 to go in the game. After that, they put in reserves, and Calvin Dougherty became the first quarterback all season other than Wyatt to attempt a pass.

But when the final South Lakes scoring drive began with 7:40 left in the game, the Seahawks had three first downs, one yard rushing and 87 passing – 68 on the one pass to Zarechnak. Wyatt, who had feasted on man-to-man coverage to gain 91 yards last week in a loss to Centreville, was limited to 46 yards on 10 catches against Westfield and had minus-13 yards rushing when the final scoring drive began.

“They kept spies on me the whole time,” Wyatt said. “It was either the linebacker or the safety, but they watched me closely.”

Picarelli finished with eight catches, more than enough to break the career school record for receptions held by Spencer Alston, whom Hescock described as Picarelli’s “mentor.” But Picarelli, who also owns the school record for longest reception with a 98-yard touchdown last season, gained just 58 yards, 42 in the last four minutes of the game.

“They double-covered him all night,” Hescock said of Picarelli, who was named to the first-team all-district team on Sunday. “But it’s hard to hold him down. He’s strong. He’s shifty. He’s quick. And he works very hard.”

Other than Picarelli, tight end Nate Zschunke also earned first-team all-district honors. Wyatt, running back Dalton Blakeney, offensive linemen Chris Kishimoto, Milo Wilkins and Jose Velasquez and sophomore receiver Joshua Dagbe made second-team offense. On defense, Sebastian Valencia, Jacob Meyer, Aidan Hileman, Jonathan Vasquez, Logan Legler, Colin Wall, Cameron Soto, Eric Kowalczyk, Dagbe and Labeed Zaid all made second team.

Picarelli was named second team all-district kickoff and punt returner, along with punter Xander Lennon, and kicker Nick Bertoni received honorable mention.

Westfield 3 16 14 7-40
South Lakes 7 0 0 6-13
W-Raj Batchala, FG 29
SL-George Zarechnak, 69 pass from Christian Wyatt (Nick Bertoni kick)
W-Ryan Carlson, 1 run (kick failed)
W-Malachi Lee, 63 pass from Carlson (Batchala kick)
W-Batchala, FG 29
W-Merrit Clinton, 5 run (Batchala kick)
W-Lee, 5 pass from Carlson (Batchala kick)
SL-Nick Picarelli, 12 pass from Wyatt (kick blocked)
W-PJ Sutherland, 65 run (Batchala kick)

W SL
First Downs 16 7
Rushes-Yards 36-248 22-101
Passing Yards 168 165
A-C-I 21-10-0 27-17-2
Punts-Average 2-28 3-29
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0
Penalties-Yards 8-48 3-30

Rushing – W: Sutherland 12-114, Binyamin Johnson 17-98, Lee 2-20, Carlson 3-9,Clinton 2-9. SL: Wyatt 10-46, Calvin Dougherty 2-27, Dalton Blakeney 5-8, Kent Ashley 1-6, Picarelli 4-6.
Passing – W: Carlson 21-10-0, 168 yards, 2 TDs. SL: Wyatt 24-12-2, 140 yards, 2 TDs; Dougherty 2-2-0, 14 yards; Gavin Satterfield 3-1-0, 4 yards.
Receiving – W: Lee 3-105, 2 TDs; Zeak Barnes 2-12, Jayden Gay-Johnson 1-32,Clinton 4-32. SL: Picarelli 8-58, TD; Zarechnak 5-91, TD; Blakeney 1-8, Joshua Dagbe 2-8, Ian Merzig 1-2.