After 22 seasons in charge and a lifetime of football, Markiewicz passed former Annapolis coach Al Laramore on Friday to become Anne Arundel County's all-time leader with 157 wins.

"You just try to take these things one week at a time," said Markiewicz, 157-77 as a head coach. "It's just the result of doing it a long time. If you do it long enough with good people, sometimes this happens. We've been blessed. We've really been blessed."

Laramore, who died in 1989, spent 23 seasons at Annapolis and compiled a 156-68-2 record, winning a state title in 1978.

Markiewicz, 53, played for Arundel under Jerry Mears, and following his graduation from Salisbury University - where he also played football - he came back to the Arundel sidelines.

"Al would love it that an Anne Arundel county kid broke his record," said former Severna Park coach Andy Borland, Laramore's best friend. "Al would love it."

Markiewicz coached a season at Chesapeake and two at Meade before settling in at North County, where he led the Knights to a state title in 1994 and began setting records. To date, Markiewicz-led teams have set at least 24 state records - all for offense.

"One of the things that's important to realize about coach Markiewicz is that he's been very innovative over the years, and he's not afraid to try things," long-time friend and Broadneck coach Jeff Herrick said. "But he does a really good job of being specific of what he's trying to do - run-and-shoot or the spread."

While most teams work continuously on making the handoffs to the running back, Arundel focuses on passing the ball.

Markiewicz's teams - mainly North County and Arundel - have been known for their passing. Former North County quarterback Mike Pfisterer's held the state record for most passes attempted (58) since 1999 and still has the career record for most passing yards (6,522). His predecessor, Mike Evans, held single-season marks for offensive yards, passing yards, passes attempted and passes completed from 1996 to 2007. It took Nick Elko, another quarterback under Markiewicz, to wipe Evans' name from the record books.

"I've done a lot of research," Markiewicz said. "If I retire, I don't know what I'm going to do because in my offseason, I spend time tinkering with this. All of our guys, we get together and talk about personnel coming back: 'What do we want to do? Do we want to pass? Do we want to run?' It's really exciting, and it's fun. It's like tuning a car; it never goes fast enough."

Markiewicz led North County into the playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996, winning just the one title - the Knights' only championship. North County set at least 10 offensive records in 1996.

But when he got the opportunity to return to Arundel in 2001, even though it meant leaving behind everything he built during the last 11 years, Markiewicz took it.

"I'll never forget him calling me up, and we talked quite a bit about him making the change from North County to Arundel," said Herrick, who played with Markiewicz at Arundel and Anne Arundel Community College. "I told him I thought it was the right decision. There was no doubt that in a matter of time, he was going to have the program moving in the direction he wanted."

Arundel hadn't won more than five games in a season and posted back-to-back 2-8 records - the lowest marks in the program's 45-year history - between 1997 and 2000.

Markiewicz's Wildcats went 3-7 during his first season, but they haven't won fewer than six games since - including this season. Arundel (6-1) is in a three-way tie for first place with North County and Old Mill. Markiewicz is 60-27 in eight seasons with the Wildcats.

"He's the best coach I've ever had," Arundel running back Derrick Rhodes said. "He's the best coach in the game. He should be out in college somewhere coaching. But he enjoys it here, and we enjoy him being here."

Markiewicz had a coaching assistantship as a fifth-year senior at Salisbury, and he planned to coach in college. But he was hired by Arundel coach Buddy Hepfer to coach the junior varsity team with Herrick, and he's never looked back.

Along with a propensity to win, Markiewicz brought with him from North County his spread offense, and perhaps no one benefited from that as much as Elko and receiver Brandon Johnson-Farrell - both playing Division I football this season.

Last year, Elko and Johnson-Farrell combined to break nine individual state records - six by North County players from that 1996 team - along with three team passing records (attempts, completions and yards for a season).

"He has had some good players. But it's very important that his players know that he's got a lot of consistency in his coaching staff, and that's been a very key factor to him," Herrick said. "His coaching staff relates to his players well, and they get the most out of them. That's a tribute to the head coach, Chuck, and what he's done at different places."

Arundel's offense still frustrates opposing defenses. The Wildcats have outscored their opponents, 244-160, and most of the damage has come through the air.

Through seven games, Billy Cosh - a first-year varsity starter - has county-highs in completions (153), pass attempts, yards (1,879) and touchdowns (27). He orchestrated a five-play, 69-yard drive with 33.8 seconds left in the second quarter Friday on three sideline passes and a 9-yard touchdown pass to Alec Lemon to take a 28-14 into the half.

"He's a great coach, and he makes me better," Cosh said after a 333-yard, five-touchdown performance against Severna Park on Friday. "He's one of the best coaches I've ever had. I'm honored to play for him."

Markiewicz said he never thought about being the county's wins leaders when he began coaching at Chesapeake. Only nine football coaches in county history have recorded 100 wins, and Markiewicz, Laramore, Joe Papetti (154), Herrick (150) and Borland (145) won't have company in the Top 5 for at least the next decade.

"Al Laramore was one of the guys that I played against," Markiewicz said. "I looked up to him as a player, and I looked up to him as a coach. So to be able to do this is really kind of an awesome thing."