The Southern Maryland Athletic Conference football season kicked off on Friday night Sept 3, 2010 in grand style. Perfect weather greeted the teams to their respective fields and there were a number of exciting games.

The Leonardtown Raiders fell behind Calvert 21-13 going into the third quarter but got things moving in the second half scoring 25 unanswered points winning 38-21. The raiders were led by Marcus Stout’s 179 yards rushing and a TD while Alfonso Cyrus added 118 yards and 2 TD’s. Tony Devito led the defensive effort with 10 tackles and John Connor added 7 tackles and 2 assists.

North Point’s offense only had to pass five times (completing one) while running 40 times for 222 yards against Northern winning 38-7. Emanuel Onakoya led the attack with 91 yards and 2 TD’s. Coach Jerry Franks had Huntingtown ready for La Plata and despite losing 20 seniors and the 2009 state’s leading rusher to graduation (Greg Goodwin), the Hurricanes rolled 41-12 behind 104 yards rushing and 4 TD’s from Davonte Fletcher.

In the weekend’s most exciting game, the Chopticon Braves traveled to Westlake with the theme “Shock The World” on their minds. The Braves defense, led by Nick Landavazo, ‘Bam” Wroble, Terhan Watson and JT Smith, was dominant all evening against a bigger and faster team. The Braves stopped Westlake four times inside the 10 yard line and Smith had 3 interceptions of QB Chris Istvan (12-28-4 int).

Chopticon took a 10-0 lead into the fourth quarter on a 17 yard rushing TD by Sterling Miles and a FG by Chris Palmer. The Wolverines defense was tough all evening, blitzing 8 guys and keeping QB Cody Douglas on his heels as he completed 8 of his 26 passes. The crowd was sensing the upset and with 1:56 remaining the Braves held a 10-6 lead. The officials took over the game from that point calling the Braves for four face mask penalties in the final two minutes of the game. The officials also stopped the clock with under 50 seconds left, when the home chain gang would not move after a first down and added 17 seconds to what should have been a running clock. With 12.6 seconds remaining Istvan threw the second TD pass to Steven Koudossou as many felt he did not have possession and was going out of bounds in the back corner of the end zone. Coach Lisanti said after the game that his team ‘just needed one more play’ and he was proud of his defense as they ‘played hard but, had to carry too much of the burden’ for the team.
 
OTHER SCORES
 
Great Mills 47        Thomas Stone 14
McDonough 41       Potomac  12
Patuxent 13           Lackey   0
Gwynn Park 17      Forrestville 14 (OT)
Paul VI     42         St Marys Ryken  14  
 
THIS WEEK’S GAMES all start times 7 p.m. Friday unless noted
 
Patuxent at Leonardtown (Broadcast on BAYNET RADIO)
Westlake at McDonough
North Point at Lackey
Great Mills at Calvert
LaPlata at Thomas Stone
Archbishop Carroll at SM Ryken
Chopticon at Gwynn Park (1 p.m. Saturday- BROADCAST ON BAYNET RADIO)