Northwest wins Maryland Class 3A title

December 04, 2004

PREP FOOTBALL

BALTIMORE - Ike Whitaker completed 15 of 20 passes for 194 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown pass to Alphonso Griffin, to lead Northwest of Montgomery County to a 14-9 victory over Charles County's Lackey in the Maryland Class 3A Football Championship game at M&T Bank Stadium.

The state championship was the first for Northwest (13-1), which opened in 1998. Whitaker, who will play football at Virginia Tech next season, was 8-for-8 to start the second half, including the touchdown to Griffin.

Morgan Green, who earlier this year became the sixth player in Maryland history to rush for 5,000 career yards, led Lackey (13-1) with 124 yards rushing on 30 carries. The loss was Lackey's second straight in the 3A title game.

Suitland 14, Damascus 7

BALTIMORE - Suitland quarterback Marta Hurley scored the game-winning 1-yard touchdown run with 3 minutes, 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter, leading the Rams to a win over Damascus in the Class 4A state title game at M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday.

Suitland junior Navorro Bowman rushed for 145 yards, including eight carries for 44 yards on the 15-play, 7:26 game-winning drive, as the Rams (13-1) won their first state title in three final game appearances.

Bluefield 69, Wayne 24

WHEELING, W.Va. - Top-rated Bluefield forced eight turnovers and set a Class AA championship game scoring record in its 69-24 victory over No. 2 Wayne.

Bluefield (14-0) didn't score in an overtime semifinal win over Weir until the final two minutes of regulation, but the Beavers did it often against Wayne (12-1) to earn their eighth state crown.

Bluefield got first-half TDs after a fumble, a bad punt snap, a shanked punt and an interception. The follies continued with three more scores off turnovers early in the third quarter.

Southern Columbia 42, Camp Hill 30

SELINSGROVE, Pa. - Southern Columbia got a lift from its defense in defeating Camp Hill in the PIAA Class A semifinals.

With Southern leading 28-17 early in the fourth quarter, Camp Hill quarterback Michael Withington threw a screen pass right to Southern defensive tackle Eric Spotts, who returned it 43 yards for a touchdown and Southern (14-0) never looked back.

Southern will now travel to Hershey for its seventh straight title game appearance and 10th in 11 years.

The Tigers, two-time defending champions, will face Rochester, a team they beat in 2002 but lost to in 1998, 2000 and 2001 for the title.

Southern, which gave up more than 400 yards and 47 points last week in a win over Pius, allowed 309 yards against Camp Hill (12-2).

But the offense more than compensated, racking up 431 total yards, 331 of that coming from a potent running game led by Henry Hynoski, who ran for 162 yards on 20 carries.

Southern quarterback Dan Latorre ran for a pair of scores and threw for another.

Withington threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns, but the Lions could only muster 20 yards on the ground in 19 attempts. Nick Powden caught six passes for 168 yards and two scores.

|

|

|