The McDonough Rams (10-1) came into the first round of the 2-A South regional football playoffs seeded first and did not disappoint fans in their 37-6 thrashing of Frederick Douglass (PG 9-2). A fierce defensive effort shut down Douglass holding their QB Taitor Reynolds to 4 of 22 passing for only 22 yards.
The front line was dominant all night, only allowing a 48 yard TD run for Emmanuel Smith. They even scored on a Devante Gray 84 yard interception for a TD.The offense was led by QB Aquil Michaux who rushed for three touchdowns of 12,22 and 80 yards, finishing the night with 142 yards on 6 rushes. He added a 40 yard passing TD to Keith O’Kelly. O’Kelly finished with6 catches and 101 yards receiving. Mc Donough faces Hammond (10-1) at home this Friday night.
Huntingtown (8-3 #4 seed) Coach Jerry Franks brought a whole new offensive strategy to Waldorf knocking off top 3-A South seed Westlake and Coach Dominic Zaccarelli 35-14. Huntingtown QB Justin Bittner only threw twice (completing both for 22 yards) but ran the ball extremely well with his 114 yards on 11 carries and a 5 yard rushing TD. Andrew Bose led the Hurricanes charge with 21 carries, 154 yards and four TD’s (1,1,3 and 8 yards). Walter White led all Westlake rushers with five carries and 74 yards on the ground. Huntingtown advances to play #3 seed Friendly in Fort Washington. Chopticon (7-4) finished a strong season losing to Friendly 39-10. The Braves struggled after the loss of four players, including record setting QB Cody Douglas due to grade issues. The Braves started strong after a 30 yard interception return for a TD by WR/DB Josh Gray.
After a Christopher Palmer 22 yard FG the Braves led 10-0 until WR Sherrod Baltimore scored on a 25 yard reception, using his 6 foot 4 inch frame to leap over the Braves DB. Speedy RB Navon Hobby scored the first of his three TD’s with four minutes remaining in the first half and the Chopticon defense held, as Friendly went into the half only leading 14-10. The lead was 20-10 with about three minutes left in the game and the Braves out of timeouts. Rather than running the ball and running out the clock, Friendly continued to throw the ball and used all of their timeouts to score 19 points in the final two minutes of the game.
In the 4-A East division, North Point (#3 seed 9-2) lost to Arundel (10-1 #2 seed) behind three receiving TD’s (61, 25,and 10 yards) from heralded QB Nick Rosati to Tyler Washington. Arundel moves on to face the fourth seed Broadneck (9-2) at home.
Good luck to SMAC representatives McDonough and Huntingtown and thanks to all of the other playoff teams for an exciting football season. Thanks also to Sherry Gray for her help with the photos used with this story.
