A Chance to Finish A Game and A Season On a High Note for South Lakes

At the end of Wednesday’s practice for the South Lakes High football team, the seniors talked about what it was like to prepare for their last game.

South Lakes, 2-7 overall, 0-4 in the Concorde District, plays Friday at 7 p.m., at Westfield. The Seahawks, who went undefeated in the regular season last year and won the Concorde District, now go into the final week as one of only two teams in the entire region that has no chance to make the playoffs.

So the seniors took advantage of their final chance to address teammates to impart some wisdom. Show up at the Green Days – the offseason workouts that mark the difference between successful programs and those always struggling to catch up. Don’t miss a weight room session, they said. It goes by fast. Take every rep, every play, every practice seriously.

It was a “sweet” moment in what can only be considered a bittersweet week at the close of a tough season for the Seahawks, their coaches and especially their seniors. They started with two losses against teams they’d beaten handily the year before, but one came in a crazy 43-penalty game in Manassas that was delayed a day by rain, and the other came against a perennial Northern Virginia power, Robinson, that was farther along in its rebuild.

Then came resounding victories over Falls Church and Mount Vernon, which brought a 2-2 record going into the game with arch-rival Herndon. After the Seahawks lost that game, 26-14, on their home field, it became apparent this was not the juggernaut of the previous season.

“They knew we lost a lot [to graduation] last year, and they thought they would be able to come closer to replicating that,” Hescock said of his seniors.”But after Herndon we kind of knew some of the stuff we thought was going to work out might not work out.”

That set up four weeks of district games. South Lakes led in every one of those games and lost two on the last play. The Seahawks even roared downfield on their first drive and scored a touchdown on Madison, which looks to be the league’s best team. Last Saturday against Centreville, they scored on their first two possessions for a 14-0 lead, only to lose 33-21.

“We give you a heck of a game every week … for a half,” Hescock said. “We’re a tough out. But when things go wrong, it’s hard when your guys aren't experienced. I was doing everything I could [Saturday afternoon]. Loving them. Screaming at them. Getting in guys’ faces. But we couldn’t get them back. It was like a cold pulse.”

Westfield, now 7-2, 3-1 with its only league loss coming to Madison, rolled over Chantilly, 34-6, last week, scoring on three long runs, a pass and a kickoff return. They rolled up more than 400 total yards and dominated from start to finish. They also own lopsided victories over Oakton and Centreville.

“They are just as good as Madison … in some ways even better,” Hescock said. “They’re very disciplined. They like to run their wing-T and their spread.”

The defense, he said, is so aggressive as to tempt teams to take advantage of them only to be lured in to other aspects of the defense. They don’t blitz as often as other teams – about 30%, Hescock said, compared to 70% or more by Madison, Centreville and others – but they are willing to take risks to get upfield and create big plays.

“Our thing is the same – don’t make mistakes and stay on our blocks a little longer,” Hescock said. “Last week it was play dumb games after halftime and win dumb prizes. This week, we have to execute for one complete game.”

Hescock said the running backs – Cody Wood, Alec Saunders and Dalton Blakeney especially – could be in for a big week, as could Nathan Deglel, the Seahawks’ stone wall of a defensive tackle

“It’s going to be up to whether we can take away what they like to do most,” Hescock said. “And whether we can do it an entire game.”

Will Hescock treat this like a bowl game and open up the playbook to infinity since there’s no tomorrow for his team? “There’s no need to get crazy,” he said. :”Westfield pursues real hard, so that might open up an opportunity. But we plan to stick to it and trust the process.”

So it’s one last chance to finish a game and finish a season on a high note. “We know what happened with our expectations,” the coach said. “That’s football. That’s life. But what’s also life is that you keep getting back up and you keep trying and you keep doing the right thing because it’s the right thing.

“I’m hoping we can do the right thing for a whole game. If we can, then yeah, it wouldn’t even be a shocker.”