North County can't slow Arundel's Cosh, Lemon

by Aaron Gray
http://www.digitalsports.com/agray@digitalsports.com

(Click the "videos" icon above to see 38 action clips and post-game interviews)

Aside from washing the team jerseys, senior Alec Lemon did just about everything for the Arundel High School football team.

His partner in crime, junior quarterback Billy Cosh, had a career night and threw five touchdowns but Lemon scored on offense, defense and special teams to lead the Wildcats to a 49-15 victory over visiting North County in the Class 4A East Region semifinals on Friday.

Second-seeded Arundel (10-1) will host fourth-seeded Severna Park -- a 28-21 winner over top-seeded Old Mill -- in the region championship next Friday at 7 p.m. The third-seeded Knights, who made their third playoff appearance in four years, finished 8-3.

"Alec Lemon is a Division I player and every time he goes out there, he shows it," said Wildcats coach Chuck Markiewicz, whose team is the defending region champion and last year's Class 4A state runner-up.

"I told the guys from Syracuse that if Alec comes to your school and you want a guy that goes on a billboard in town, he's your guy. Alec is an ambassador for our club, he's a special player and we're really glad to have him."

Lemon, who committed to Syracuse before the season, finished with a game-high nine catches for 181 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also tallied two interceptions -- one returned 38 yards for a score in the third quarter -- but Lemon's big night started when he ran the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.

"That was a tremendous lift and it really motivated us to play hard the whole game," said Lemon, who finished with 327 all-purpose yards. "Right when I got the ball, I saw all the blocks. Once I hit the seam, I had to make a play."

Not to be outdone, Cosh set the Maryland state public-school record for touchdowns thrown in a single season (48) during the game. He tied the old record of 43, previously held by 2007 Arundel graduate Nick Elko (Delaware State), last week and took sole possession of the mark with a second-quarter touchdown to Scott Green.

Despite the foggy weather and a sporadic mist, Cosh was still able to zero in on his receivers. In the Wildcats' no-huddle, spread offense, he said breaking the state record was almost inevitable based on the talent around him.

"I'm not going to lie, (the record) was on my mind a little bit," said Cosh, who has thrown five or more touchdowns in five straight games. "I've got great teammates around me and everyone makes plays. Everyone got involved and that's why we're so successful."

Cosh went 26-for-38 passing for 402 yards and connected with six different receivers. Ronnie Harris (five catches, 86 yards), Dererick Rhodes (three catches, 67 yards) and Green (two catches, 23 yards) each hauled in touchdown passes from Cosh. Senior Sean Fitzgerald, who is headed to Towson next year for lacrosse, had six receptions for 45 yards and had a long touchdown play called back because of holding.

The huge offensive numbers for the receiving corps was nothing new for the Wildcats and North County coach Gary Liddick knew it all too well. His Knights fell in Gambrills during regular season, 50-34, in a game dominated by big plays.

But after senior running back Dino Stevens, the leading rusher in Anne Arundel County, left the game with a knee injury about five minutes before halftime, North County was forced to throw the ball more and that's never a good idea against Arundel, which warmly invited the strategy.

"Before we lost Stevens and (senior running back Mike) Davis, I thought we were OK," said Liddick, whose team also fell to the Wildcats, 34-19, in last year's region semifinal. "I didn't want to get in a horse race with these guys but after Stevens went down, you know, he's 60 to 70 percent of our offense."

After Lemon's opening kickoff return, he picked off a pass from senior quarterback Travis Delizio (12-for-28 passing for 160 yards) near midfield on the Knights' first series. The North County defense held, however, and then Stevens and the rest of the Knights started to execute its "T-bone offense."

Early on, Stevens took multiple direct snaps as Delizio would line up on the flats, in the backfield or in shotgun. North County unveiled the scheme during its 7-6 loss to Broadneck last week so Arundel wasn't too frazzled.

After a few dry runs in its revamped offense, North County did get on the board after a 26-yard punt return from sophomore Steve Perkins put the ball inside Wildcats' territory. Five plays later, Stevens rushed in for a 6-yard touchdown and his ensuing extra-point tied the game, 7-7, with 9:12 left in the second.

Stevens finished with 65 rushing yards on 11 carries. He did not return to action after leaving the game in the second but wrapped up a stellar senior campaign with a county-best 1,555 rushing yards.

Cosh found Lemon for a 42-yard touchdown pass, the very next play after Fitzgerald's nullified score and Arundel went into halftime with a 21-7 lead. North County went three-and-out to start the second half and then the Wildcats pounced again.

"Those guys had a special night," Markiewicz said, referring to Cosh and the receivers.

Harris hauled in a catch near the left sideline, broke away from his single-man coverage around the North County 25 and sprinted into the end zone to open a 28-7 lead with 9:43 left in the third. Six minutes later, Lemon stepped in front of a Delizio pass and returned his second interception of the night for a score.

"Our defense goes against our offense everyday so their used to shootouts," said Lemon, who has a team-leading four picks on the season. "(Defensive) coach (Vinnie) Elliott had great calls for us and put us in the right place."

Junior Bobby Partilla and senior Chris Rice tallied nine tackles each on defense for Arundel. Rhodes added six.

Senior running back Steadman Beatty capped off a nine-play scoring drive for the Knights in the fourth. Cordell Blair added 37 rushing yards for North County on 12 carries in a backup role.

NOTES: Arundel has averaged a county-best 40.45 points a game ... the Wildcats have won 13 straight home games dating back to 2007 ... North County surrendered a combined 81 points in eight wins this season but it gave up an average of 35 points a game in its three losses.

North County (8-3)    7      0     0     8    -    15
Arundel (10-1)           7    14    21    7    -    49

Scoring summary	Qtr	Time	Scoring play	NC	AHS
Arundel	1	11:47	#2 Lemon, Alec 85 yd kick return (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	0	7
North County	2	9:12	#1 Stevens, Dino 6 yd run (#1 Stevens, Dino kick)	7	7
Arundel	2	6:43	#10 Cosh, Billy 5 yd pass to #4 Green, Scott (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	7	14
Arundel	2	4:05	#10 Cosh, Billy 42 yd pass to #2 Lemon, Alec (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	7	21
Arundel	3	9:43	#10 Cosh, Billy 42 yd pass to #5 Harris, Ronnie (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	7	28
Arundel	3	3:56	#2 Lemon, Alec 38 yd int return (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	7	35
Arundel	3	0:33	#10 Cosh, Billy 22 yd pass to #2 Lemon, Alec (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	7	42
North County	4	5:31	#10 Beatty, Stedman 1 yd run (#10 Beatty, Stedman run)	15	42
Arundel	4	4:54	#10 Cosh, Billy 41 yd pass to #23 Rhodes, Derrick (#3 Alderman, Blake kick)	15	49

Team stats	North County	Arundel
First downs	14	21
Rushing yardage	157	20
Pass completions - attempts	13-29	26-38
Passing yardage	157	402
Pass touchdowns - interceptions	0-3	5-0
Total plays	62	50
Total offense	314	422
Fumbles - lost	0-0	0-0
Penalties - yards	7-70	5-30
Defensive sacks - yards lost	0-0	1-5
Time of possession	31:59	16:01
3rd down efficiency	5 for 14	2 for 6
4th down efficiency	0 for 2	0 for 0
Punts - average	5-31.8	4-37.0

-- stats provided by Sean Asbury