South Lakes Looking To Right The Ship in Homecoming Battle Against Oakton Friday

By BRIAN McNICOLL

Even at some of the highest points in the season for the South Lakes High football team, Coach Jason Hescock has said the team had not played to its potential. He said they tended to play better against better teams and worse against struggling teams.

But from an overall standpoint, things looked positive – a 3-1 record with one near-mess against an unbeaten Battlefield team believed to be among the state’s best. After which Hescock also said the team had not played to its potential.

All that changed on Saturday. South Lakes’ offensive line struggled against a young, agile and hungry Herndon front, limiting the Seahawks to a season-low 113 yards rushing.Its defense was stung by big plays – a 48-yard TD pass against a busted coverage, a 61-yard TD run by a back who was just trying to get two yards to convert a fourth down.

And the turnover bug – a growing problem as the season wore on – made its biggest impression to date on Saturday with two drive-crushing fumbles and a critical interception that led to Herndon’s 49-yard game-winning field goal with nine seconds left.

“I knew we were in trouble when Christian threw that interception,” Hescock said. “And even on that play, two guys missed assignments. They just didn’t execute. That’s why execution has been the focus this week.”

Now the Seahawks are 3-2 going into their homecoming battle against Oakton tonight at 7 at South Lakes. It is their Concorde District opener and a chance to get a leg up on becoming one of the top four teams in the district and making the playoffs.

Hescock said the line is getting healthy again, which should help some. “But we;re still not the caliber we need to be. We’re still trying to find the right personnel.”

There’s also the specter of last year, when South Lakes lost 48-47 in overtime at Oakton when its extra point was partially blocked and hit the upright. That loss, coupled with a narrow loss to Chantilly the week before also on the last play of the game, put the Seahawks into a tailspin from which they never recovered, finishing 2-8 with a six-game losing streak.

“It’s a huge game, no question,” Hescock said. “But we really can’t think about it that way. We have to think about going 1-0 this week and nothing else. We’re hyper focused on just this one game. Last week was a little out of normal playing during the daytime on Saturday, but we have to get used to that if we’re going to play in the playoffs. This week, we’re back to regular schedule, Friday night, homecoming. We have to get this week right. Nothing else matters.”

The Cougars won three games over teams with a combined record of 1-14 and lost two to teams with a combined record of 10-2. Colonial Forge, which beat the Cougars, 42-14, is 6-0. Langley, which defeated Oakton 35-7 last week, is 4-2.

Oakton comes in with a junior quarterback in Jack Martin who already is into his second year as a starter and has attracted some attention for Division 1 schools. Even in the 4-touchdown loss, he threw for 158 yards and ran for 71 more and already has thrown for nearly 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“He’s a wheeler’ dealer,” Hescock said of Martin, who threw for 261 yards and four touchdowns in last year’s South Lakes-Oakton game. “He’s good at short, medium and deep throws.”

Ryan Henriquez, Brayden Vazquez and Collin Henriques, who scored the other Oakton touchdowns last season, also all return. “They have a little bit of everything,” Hescock said. “I’d love to have a walk in the park in this game, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”

The Seahawks should be bolstered by the return of receivers George Zarechnak and Henry Strickland from injuries. Both practiced to some degree on Tuesday and were expected to be ready for Friday night.

“That really handcuffed us in what we could call on several occasions,” Hescock said. “It will be good to get them back.”

A lot is riding on this game for South Lakes. Of course 1-0 when you have to finish in the top four out of six is much better than 0-1. Oakton is a monkey to be gotten off the back. The Seahawks are due for a bounceback game if they can continue to get healthy and improve on execution. And if they’re still on a trend of playing their best in the biggest games, then they should be on tonight.

Which is good. Because this is by far their biggest game yet.