High-flying Eagles soar past Surrattsville, 57-21, in playoff opener

By Victor Hensley

CHESAPEAKE CITY - It’d been nearly a month since Bo Manor found itself in the win column, with the Eagles having been slowed down by injuries that limited them against some of their toughest competition of the year.

However, last Friday, with the season on the line, the Eagles returned to form.

Bo Manor (6-4) snapped its three-game losing skid with a dominant 57-21 victory over the Surrattsville Hornets (4-6) in the opening round of the MPSSAA 1A playoffs that featured the Eagles having their most complete game of the season.

“We needed a good week of practice and we needed to refocus and throw last Friday out of the window,” said Vince Ricci, the Eagles’ head coach, referring to his team’s 37-0 loss to Perryville the week before. “The kids bought into that and they had a really good game on Friday and came out with a lot of energy.”

This was the first full game back for Eagles starting quarterback Angel Granado, who had been nursing a shoulder injury since early October, and he absolutely flourished.

Granado was 14for-16 (88%) for 248 yards and three touchdowns, adding 45 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries on the ground as he carved up the Hornets’ defense in a multitude of ways.

“For a first game back, we couldn’t really ask for anything more,” Ricci said of his starting quarterback. “For his only two incompletions, one got batted at the line of scrimmage and the other was a drop, so realistically, he could have been 100%.”

Granado’s return –along with his near-perfect passing day – allowed the Eagles to get their running game going, which the team leaned on for most of the night.

On the very first drive, Bo Manor ran it down Surrattsville’s throat, going up 7-0 as the Hornets struggled to stop anything coming their way.

“For the first time in a while, we got our ground game going,” Ricci said. “To no one’s surprise, when we get our ground game going, we’re a heck of a lot better offense and we can play play-action off of that. … We knew it was going to be a re- ally good night for us and we established that on the first drive. Our first drive lasted seven minutes and we kind of just went right down the field – run, run, run, run, run – and it just got easier from there.”

The Eagles totaled 267 yards on the ground, with Matt Nichols handling the brunt of the work, carrying the ball 11 times for 162 yards (14.7 yards per carry) and a touchdown, while Jake Koehler carried it eight times for 36 yards.

“Once Matt kind of got going, it’s hard to take the ball out of his hands,” Ricci said. “Matt went in there and broke one, and it was like, ‘All right, let’s see what he can do on the second carry,’ he breaks one, and it’s like, ‘All right, let’s get him a third carry.’ You just kind of ride the hot horse there and Jake was over there encouraging it, so we just stuck with it.”

Defensively, Bo Manor racked up three interceptions on the day, with Koehler being responsible for two of them and Nate Fleming having one of his own.

At the half, the Eagles were in full control, leading 43-13.

In total, seven dif- ferent players reached the end zone for the Eagles, including Granado, Nichols, Deaven Jones (6 carries, 85 yards, TD), Ayden Frost (3 carries, 8 yards, TD), Drew Lenz (1 catch, 6 yards, TD), Chris Harris (1 catch, 5 yards, TD) and Gunnar Preston (2 carries, 9 yards, TD).

Bo Manor tacked on a couple of scores in the second half, too, to cap off its offensive showcase and seal the 57-21 win.

“I would just say that’s the monkey off the back,” Ricci said of his team snapping its three-game skid. “The kids were very excited after the game and it felt really good. And we felt it going into halftime, when the kids were really excited and they were having a good time with music going. The last three halftimes, it’s been, ‘All right, we’ve got to get in there and adjust and see what we can do.’ But this week, it was like we were finally back to being ourselves and having a little bit of a swagger back to us.”

This week, the Eagles will travel to play the Colonel Richardson Colonels (7-3) in the second round of the 1A playoffs.

Indians blanked by Harford Tech, eliminated from postseason

By Victor Hensley

BEL AIR - There’s no real way to sugarcoat it – North East ran into a brick wall in its playoff opener.

The Indians (1-9) were tasked with facing off against the speedy, physical Harford Tech Cobras (6-4) in the first round of the MPSSAA 2A-1A playoffs, a matchup that ended with North East suffering a shutout loss, 36-0.

“They have multiple playmakers, man,” said Taylor Slaughenhoupt, the Indians’ head coach, following the loss. “There’s three or four guys that anytime they touch the ball, they can take it to the house, so if you don’t do your job, especially on defense, they’ll make you pay. We did a decent job of keeping them in check, but they got a couple of big plays and took advantage of it.”

While the Indians’ defense managed to force punts on back-to-back drives to start the game –leading to just a 7-0 deficit after the first quarter – a variety of mistakes and missteps would eventually catch up to them, with the Cobras hopping out to a 30-0 lead by halftime.

North East was without its starting quarterback, Luke Keefer, in the loss, who tweaked his ankle in the regular season finale against Rising Sun.

Taking on a team as talented as Harford Tech without your starting quarterback is a recipe for a rough night. And the Indians felt it.

In the second half,

North East’s defense improved significantly, holding Harford Tech to just a single score in the fourth quarter. But with the offense being unable to move the ball, the Indians were simply in too deep of a hole to climb out of.

Despite the Indians finishing the season with a 1-9 record, Slaughenhoupt expressed hope for the future of the program after his second full season as the team’s head coach.

“Although the results weren’t what we wanted this year, I would go to war with all 30 of those guys and the coaches any day of the week,” he said. “We talk about it all the time: lay your brick. We’re setting out to build a solid program that contends for championships and it’s a slow process. And we have to trust that process.” This year, North East’s J.V. team finished with an 8-1 record, a sign that there are plenty of players that can help the Indians contend next season once they move up to varsity. That, paired with the fact that Slaughenhoupt sounds hopeful for the sophomores and juniors returning next year, leaves plenty of reason to be excited about what’s to come. “We have two solid layers of brick in the ground,” Slaughenhoupt said. “Now, we’re going to continue to build on it and continue to lay a brick every day. … The potential is there, our ability is there. Now, let’s go work on it, improve on it and do what we’re capable of doing.”