By DAVE FACINOLI
Without question, the high-water mark of the Bishop O'Connell Knights' 2025 football season was defeating the visiting Bishop Ireton Cardinals in a week-seven game. O'Connell won, 33-28, in a tightly-played clash between longtime Northern Virginia and Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) rivals. The teams treat each season's annual showdown kind of like their Super Bowl.
For O'Connell, the win clinched a berth as the fourth seed in the WCAC Metro Division playoffs, the Knights' second-straight postseason berth.
"That was a big win for us,” O'Connell coach Todd Sabatino said. “Our team played well overall and responded throughout the game. We made some plays."
O'Connell rallied from an early 7-0 deficit against Ireton, then the victory was clinched by a 42-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from junior quarterback Ryan Turpin to junior Jon Tyler.
Turpin threw three scoring passes in the win, two to senior Jacob Geisler and junior running back Nick Morris ran for 149 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run. Overall, O'Connell had one of its best offensive games of the season against Ireton. On defense, Kian Kaboli had an interception return for a score.
The 33 points were O'Connell's second most scored in a game during the 2025 season. The most came in a game-three 38-12 home win over St. Stephen's & St. Agnes. Highlights from that victory were senior Zander Schied's 71-yard interception return for a score; sophomore Pierce Hall's 112 yards rushing, including a touchdown run; junior Xavier Reid's TD reception and a 26-yard scoring run by Morris. O'Connell rushed for 234 yards as a team.
Turpin led the offense much of the season. The signal caller was a first-year player for O'Connell. For the season, he passed for 824 yards and six touchdowns, missing at least one game with an injury.
"Ryan threw the ball well and had a good season for us," Sabatino said.
Turpin began the season impressively in the Knights' opening game against the Washington-Liberty Generals in an all-Arlington showdown by throwing for 132 yards and a touchdown on 12 completions. The game between the teams was the first in 42 years. Also in that contest, senior running back Anthony Pham gained 190 yards rushing, including an 88-yard touchdown run. Unfortunately, Pham suffered a season-ending injury in O'Connell's next game.
Pham's injury was the first of many more to come for key O'Connell players throughout the season. Hall and senior Josh Taliaferro were other running backs who missed significant playing time because of injuries.
"Injuries kept coming and became an issue," Sabatino said.
Morris was one running back who didn't miss time because of injuries. He rushed for more than 700 yards and ran for five touchdowns for the season. Schied, Reid and Geisler were leading receivers. Schied had the most catches with 23 for 242 yards and Reid had 15 for 250 yards.
Many O'Connell players were honored for their 2025 performances when they were chosen to all-WCAC Metro Division teams. Making the first team were junior linebacker Jayden Campbell, senior specialist Zane Watts, junior defensive lineman Kaiden Alt, senior offensive lineman Kellen Hicks and Kaboli, a sophomore defensive back. Chosen second team were Turpin, Morris, Taliaferro, Schied, Reid, senior linebacker Eli Moran and senior offensive lineman Tyler Mcmanus. Honorable mention choices were Geisler, Tyler, and seniors Collin Castro and Mateo Quiroz.
Campbell, Moran and Taliaferro were O'Connell's tackling leaders on defense. Campbell led the way with 18 tackles for losses. Taliaferro forced three fumbles, recovered two and had an interception. Kaboli and Geisler each had three interceptions.
In O'Connell's season-ending road playoff loss to top seed St. Mary's Ryken, sophomore Scott Shaw had a 55-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Senior Mitch Czernia was O'Connell's placekicker, booting a 27-yard field goal against Washington-Liberty.