They are not playing for a National District championship. There is still a long way to go before Wakefield’s football team reaches that point.
But among the Northern Region’s three Arlington County schools — Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Lee — there is a prize that comes close: The unofficial county championship.
It has been 11 years since Wakefield last earned those bragging rights by beating both county rivals. In recent years the Warriors have had enough trouble just winning a single game. But tonight, while heavy underdogs to the first-place Patriots (7-1, 4-1 district), Wakefield at long last has something tangible to play for.
“It’s a whole lot better than what we’ve gone through the last couple of years,” said senior defensive back Lorenzo Humphrey, who has helped the Warriors (3-5, 2-3) to their best season in five years. “To play Yorktown at home on Senior Night is the most important game of my career.”
The game means even more to Humphrey, who earlier in his career thought football might be taken away from him. During a practice sophomore year he experienced a scary incident with chest pains and breathing trouble. He was eventually diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, a problem that bothered Humphrey off and on through last season. He was cleared to play and hasn’t had any complications this season. But he did have to convince his family that playing football again was the right thing.
“I just love the game too much to give it up,” said Humphrey. “This is something I still want to do.”
The Warriors are only a few plays from a winning season. They lost to T.C. Williams in the season opener, 10-6, and two weeks later fell just short of sending their game with Falls Church to overtime in a 27-25 loss. That’s a far cry for a program that as recently as 2004 was outscored by an average of 43 points per game.
Winning Warriors
» Six players who started with Wakefield’s football program as freshmen remain with the Warriors — Lorenzo Humphrey, Donté Berry, Isaac Keel, Marcus Henderson, Elijah Gormes and Andrew Allen. They will be honored before tonight’s game with Yorktown.
» Humphrey has a team-high three interceptions and has forced four fumbles. Berry leads with seven sacks and has also forced four fumbles. Henderson has a team-high 120 tackles at LB.
» Wakefield’s 8-6 win vs. Arlington County-rival Washington-Lee last week was its first over the Generals since 2001.
