MoCo Sports and MCM’s Friday Night Lights Moves to Saturday Night

Yep, you read the title correctly – I am going over Saturday night to cover the Battle of Great Seneca – Part III in Germantown. Quince Orchard travels up Great Seneca Highway to visit undefeated Northwest in a MoCo 4A West neighborhood matchup.

The road to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and a possible state title shot must travel first up, down and along that Great Seneca Highway.

It was about year ago the reigning 4A West Division Champs QO Cougars were stunned by the visiting Jaguars in what was then considered an upset in the MoCo 4A West. QO was just a stepping-stone for those eventual 2013 Jaguar state champions in Part I of the Battle of Great Seneca. The Jag’s would again return for Part II later in December to take hold of the 4A West division championship.

Now Part III is this Saturday night. Rumor has it that rather than play on Halloween and tax those good folks at Montgomery County Police, the game was moved to 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 1 – All Saints Day.

It will take a “saint” to win in the expected conditions on Saturday evening. Thirty mph winds, rain and the first serious cold snap will greet the expected overflow crowd in Germantown. Some would think the advantage is surely in favor of the Jags but then the Cougars believe the answer resides somewhere within their “dark side”.

You see, NW last year won the 2013 state championship at M&T in what has to be the worst weather conditions I have ever photographed in – let alone watch those two championship-caliber teams face-off and play through.

However they played on a turf field in Baltimore. In contrast this latest edition of the battle will be played in Germantown on grass and not much of it. The field will be more like mud by the 4th quarter.

I don’t predict games. I just like to watch.

So the biggest factor in my humble opinion will be the field of play. The wind should neutralize NW’s QB Mark Pierce effectiveness and the day will belong to the running backs – NW’s EJ Lee and QO’s Kyle Green and reside with those “saints” who can tackle on that field boarding the Great Seneca Highway.

Come on out – it’s the only high school football game in the greater DMV under those Saturday night lights. You can sit in the stands and keep warm eating leftover Halloween candy from Friday Night.

Phil Fabrizio
Twitter: @PhotoLoaf
Game Day Photos are at: http://sugarloafphoto.smugmug.com/MCMsports

The Battle of Great Seneca comes to the Jaguar Nation

About Phil Fabrizio

Phil Fabrizio is an event, news and sports photographer in the Washington D.C. Metro area. He lives in North Potomac and has operated Sugarloaf Photography since 1985. He is a member of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of the Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc in Glen Echo. Stop by Phil's PhotoLoaf site or follow him on Twitter @Photoloaf. Find Phil's blog on MyMCMedia here.

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