By Jon
Buzby
MaxPreps.com
Heading
into the fourth quarter of last season’s 4A state
championship with a 23-point lead, thoughts of sneaking
up behind head coach Chuck Markiewicz with a water
bucket had to be sneaking into the minds of Arundel
players.
The
program’s first state championship since 1975 was firmly
in its grasp, but then the title slipped away, blowing
the lead and losing the game 36-30.
Redemption is on the mind of
the Wildcats this fall.
The
Wildcats return seven starters from last year’s
record-breaking offense, led by receiver Alex Lemon, who
had 70 catches for 969 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Unfortunately for Lemon, the
player throwing all of those passes, consensus All-State
quarterback Nick Elko will be tossing the ball around
this fall in Dover,
Del., at Delaware State University.
Junior
Billy Cosh is the leading candidate to replace Elko. In
addition to Lemon, wide receivers Sean Fitzgerald, R.J.
Harris and Auraum Nuiriankh provide a potent trio of
receivers for Cosh to throw to when he’s not using his
natural running ability to rack up yardage for the
Wildcat offense.
Derrick
Rhodes (63 carries, 284 yards, 3 TDs) and Mitch Reese
(67 carries, 254 yards, 1 TD) will be the primary ball
carriers.
Defensively, Arundel returns
five starters, led by junior linebacker Bobby Patrilla.
He will be flanked in the defensive backfield by fellow
classmates Dominique Matthews and Raymond Harmon.
With four
of its first five games on the road, Arundel will find
out early whether or not it can make weekend plans
during the state playoffs.
Football:
Maryland Players Get
National Notice
Tom
Lemming of CBS College Sports included nine Maryland preps in his
look at the top 25 players nationally by position in the
class of 2009
The
highest rated player is Jelani Jenkins of Good Counsel,
listed as the No. 4 outside linebacker in the country
and the No. 33 prospect overall regardless of
position.
Tavon
Austin of Dunbar High School in Baltimore also cracked
the top 100 nationally, coming in at No. 90 overall and
No. 12 at the tailback position.
Tom Lemming/CBS
College Sports 2009 Positional
Rankings
Player, School
(Ranking) – College
Raymond
Cotton, Fort Meade (No. 25
combo passer) – Auburn
Tavon
Austin, Baltimore Dunbar (No. 12 tailback)
Deonte
Arnett, Forestville Military (No. 15 defensive end) –
Maryland
Sean
Stanley, Gaithersburg
(No. 17 defensive end) – Penn
State
Jelani
Jenkins, Good Counsel (No. 4 outside linebacker)
Darrell
Givens, Lackey (No. 10 cornerback) – Penn
State
Dominic
Clarke, Tuscarora (No. 25 cornerback) – Ohio
State
Malcolm
Willis, Lackey (No. 25 safety) – Penn
State
Mike
Campanaro, River Hill (No. 23 athlete) – Wake
Forest
Softball:
Archbishop Spalding Hires Scharek
Kristen
Scharek was promoted to head varsity coach of the
Archbishop Spalding High School
softball team, replacing Paul O’Brien, who stepped down
after coaching his team to a 17-1 record and the IAAM A
Conference championship last spring.
Scharek
is very familiar with Spalding’s softball tradition, and
not just from her junior varsity coaching duties the
past two seasons. She played briefly at Spalding before
transferring to nearby Seton Keough, where she was named
All-City and All-County in 1999 and 2000 by the Baltimore
Sun.
"I am
extremely excited about this opportunity," Scharek, who
played college softball at the University of
Maryland-Baltimore County, said in a press release. "I
am fortunate to inherit such a talented program. I look
forward to a smooth transition and hope to pick up where
we left off, as IAAM A Conference champions."
Boys Basketball:
Crossland’s Harris Stepping Down
Sam
Harris, the head boys basketball coach at Crossland High School for
the past seven years, is stepping down to spend more
time with his family.
"It was
really the fact I'd spent a long time in Prince
George's County and I wanted to
spend more time with my family and son," Harris told the
Gazette. "I
thought it would be the perfect time for me to go."
Harris’
best season was when he led the Cavaliers to the 2005
Class 3A East Region title before falling to Randallstown in the state
semifinals.
His
previous coaching stops included stints at Riverdale
Baptist and H.D. Woodson.
Although
he’s looking forward to a year off, Harris hasn’t ruled
out returning to coaching.
"I'm just
going to take some time off and enjoy my family," Harris
told the Gazette. "I'm
not going to count out coaching again, but I just want
to give it a break."
Jon Buzby is the
Maryland correspondent for
MaxPreps.com
Print
Email
