By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Manager, Washington D.C. Metro Area
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Washington-Lee (5-4, 4-2) at Yorktown (5-4, 4-2)
PowerPoint Ranking: Washington-Lee – 10th (Div. 5); Yorktown – 7th (Div. 5)
Offensive Rank (ppg in Division): Washington-Lee – 9th (18.4); Yorktown – 7th (24.0)
Defensive Rank (ppg in Division): Washington-Lee – T8th (23.7); Yorktown – 4th (18.6)
Last Week: Washington-Lee won at Wakefield, 28-6; Yorktown won at Mount Vernon, 21-3
Well, speaking of playoff implications, this is as close as it gets to a play-in game.
Whomever wins automatically qualifies for the Division 5 playoffs. It’s not a true play-in game, though, as the Patriots could still qualify with a loss.
For Yorktown to make it with a loss, it needs Stone Bridge to beat South Lakes or Langley to beat McLean and four of the following seven to happen: Briar Woods beats Dominion, Stuart beats Falls Church, Wilson (D.C.) beats Roosevelt, Madison beats Jefferson, Centreville beats Robinson, Herndon beats Westfield and Wakefield beats Mount Vernon.
On the field, Washington-Lee can run the ball, that’s obvious.
It would be well served on Friday to move the ball through the air like it did last week, especially in the red zone. General senior Karl Lendenmann caught three touchdowns passes as part of a five-grab, 80-yard night.
Yorktown, meanwhile, needs to summon whatever it had going in the final quarter against Wakefield and the opening quarter at Mount Vernon.
In those consecutive periods, the Patriots outscored opponents 48-0, forcing five turnovers and returning a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. The polysyllabic combination of senior quarterback Sam Nottingham and receiver C.J. Bartholomew were integral to that outburst, accounting for four of those scores.
Outside of those two periods, though, Yorktown only held a three-point aggregate advantage over the two still-winless opponents.
Since Nottingham returned to the lineup full-time after an illness cost him the first three-plus weeks of the season, Yorktown is 4-1.
Thanks to my new b.f.f. Cheryl in the Patriot athletic office, we know the last time Washington-Lee beat Yorktown was 1982. The Patriots, led by coach Tony Ramasco, lost to the Generals, 25-13.
Yorktown had 23 players on its roster and finished 2-8, 0-6 in the Great Falls District.
Current Washington-Lee head coach Josh Shapiro was 12 years old.
I hope you appreciate that stat, it’s going to cost me a slice of pizza and a Coke at the next Patriots’ basketball game I cover.
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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