South Lakes High Bows To Westfield in Region 6D Football Semifinals

By BRIAN McNICOLL

George Zarechnak prowled the sideline early in the fourth quarter Friday night at Westfield, banging on teammates’ shoulder pads and screaming at them to get UP.

The South Lakes High Seahawks had just pulled to within three points, and the junior wide receiver, who had made the biggest catch of the night – a 67-yarder to set up South Lakes’ first touchdown – wanted to inspire an all-out effort to finish the job.

But alas, it was Westfield that found another gear. The Bulldogs responded to the Seahawks’ threat with two surgical drives and coasted home from there for a 31-21 victory in the Region 6D semifinals.

Westfield, now 9-3 after its second victory over South Lakes in the last three weeks and its ninth in the last 11 meetings, will take on Madison (8-4), Saturday at 1 at Westfield.

South Lakes finished 6-6 after its fourth playoff appearance in Coach Jason Hescock’s seven years in Reston.

“I love my boys like family,” Zarechnak said after the game. “I didn’t want to have them end our season like this, especially the seniors.”

To that point, the Seahawks defense had given ground grudgingly. Westfield’s first touchdown drive took eight plays to move just 41 yards, and it would’ve ended halfway through but fo a controversial pass interference penalty deep in South Lakes territory.

After the teams had gone to the locker room at halftime tied at 7, the Bulldogs had moved ahead 14-7 on an 11-play, 67-yard march that included a sack, a fumble and a 24-yard completion just when they needed it most.

Westfield then started at the South Lakes 44 and ended up 10 plays later with a 35-yard field goal by Raj Batchala that made it 17-7.

And the Seahawk offense obviously had not been subdued – they responded to the 10-point deficit with their best drive of the night with quarterback Christian Wyatt whipping the offense downfield with sideline throws to left and right to receivers Joshua Dagbe (13 catches-123 yards) and Nick Picarelli (7-51), then capping it with a 7-yard scramble for a touchdown.

But Wyatt had 19 carries for just 39 yards on the night, and 17 of those yards had come on that drive. The rest of the night, “They most definitely had a spy on me – two of them in fact,” Wyatt said after the game. “It was either the linebacker or the safety, or sometimes both. They did not want me to run.”

Wyatt, Dagbe and Picarelli dominated a passing attack that generated 242 yards on 24-of-29 passing. But the Seahawks’ running game generated just 81 yards – 39 by senior running back Dalton Blakeney on just eight carries. So it was important South Lakes stay close, which is why Zarechnak was whipping up the bench.

But suddenly, the Bulldogs were able to run. Running back PJ Sutherland ripped off a 9-yard game. Then after a 10-yard pass for a first down, he gained 13 more then, 21 on the play after that. He then barged in from nine yards out on the next play, and Westfield was up 24-14 with 8:21 to go in the game.

Two plays after the kickoff, Malachi Lee, a defensive back and wide receiver, made his second interception of the game to give Westfield the ball at the South Lakes 30. Seven plays later, it was 31-14, and the Seahawks had just 3:53 to recover.

They put the multi-receiver/running quarterback band back together one last time. Senior all-Concorde District tight end Nate Zschunke had his final catch as a Seahawk. Picarelli had a catch, Wyatt scrambled twice and Dagbe caught three, including the 15-yarder for a final touchdown to make it 31-21.

When the onside kick failed with 51 seconds left, it was over for the 2025 Seahawks.

They had improved in nearly every phase over the 2-8 Seahawks of a year ago. They had won a playoff game for the first time since 2022. They had gone 2-3 in a district that won all four of its first-round playoff games.

“I still think we could’ve beaten them,” said Hescock. “We just had a few things we couldn’t get corrected, and our defensive line gave out before their offensive line. Westfield is a good team, but I’m proud of what we did here tonight.”

South Lakes’ offensive line “clicked at the end of the year,” Hescock said and showed better on Friday than in the meeting 14 days earlier. “We kept our focus on the guy in front of us,” said Milo Wilkens, senior offensive tackle and the leader of the linemen, according to Hescock. “Next year, our guys need to prepare as though this is going to last a lot longer.”

South Lakes 7 0 0 14 – 21
Westfield 0 7 10 14 – 31
SL-Joshua Dagbe, 3 run (Nick Bertoni kick)
W-Merrit Clinton, 4 run (Raj Batchala kick)
W-Clinton, 5 run (Batchala kick)
W-Batchala, FG 35
SL-Christian Wyatt, 7 run (Bertoni kick)
W-PJ Sutherland, 9 run (Batchala kick)
W-Sutherland, 8 run (Batchala kick)
SL-Dagbe, 15 pass from Wyatt (Bertoni kick)

SL W
First Downs 14 13
Rushes-Yards 25-81 40-215
Passing Yards 248 94
Passes (A-C-I) 29-24-2 14-7-0
Punts-Average 3-21 3-38.6
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 3-20 3-25

Rushing – South Lakes: Dalton Blakeney 8-39, Wyatt 19-39, Dagbe 1-3. Westfield: Sutherland 20-134, Binyamin Johnson 11-51, Clinton 6-36, Ryan Carlson 2-minus 6.
Passing – South Lakes: Wyatt 29-24-2, 248 yards, TD. Westfield: Carlson 14-7-0, 94 yards.
Receiving – South Lakes: Dagbe 13-123, TD; Nick Picarelli 7-51, George Zarechnak 2-72, Blakeney 1-2. Nate Zschunke 1-5. Westfield: Malachi Lee 5-61, Noah Cardenas 1-24, Zeak Barnes 1-minus 6.