Previewing Fall Football in MoCo (PHOTOS)
I had the pleasure last week to drop in at the Montgomery County Athletic Directors (AD) August Meeting. All 25 ADs were present and hard at work coordinating with Montgomery County Police Department district captains on the upcoming fall sports season for their respective schools. During break between the planning activities I was able to get a few photo opportunities as well as some precious insights to key game match ups for my Friday Night Light series.
High on my photo to do list is the new 3A matchup between Damascus and Poolesville on September 25th. I asked Damascus AD Joe Doody about this matchup and it seems that it has been over 20 years since either team has played each other in league play. Poolesville brings a competitive history from prior league play in Division 1A and 2A and it will be a challenge and an unknown to county 3A teams to face this new opponent.
Downcounty Landon, a private school will play both Bethesda Chevy Chase (October 3rd) and Whitman (September 11th) in what some might call a backyard brawl for Bethesda football superiority. We already know that Landon can play lacrosse. It should be interesting to see how this plays out between all three schools – and hopefully it will continue into the future.
Quince Orchard AD George Awkard told me that Upcounty fans should have all their eyes focused on Great Seneca Highway. Why? Because it is here along that major thoroughfare where the most competitive football in the county and probably the state will be played all season. George told me to mark this date down, October 30th. Because on that date the center of all things of MoCo football needs to be focused along the highway, as four home games will be played within a radius of two miles of the Great Seneca.
Quince Orchard will host Whitman; Northwest host Clarksburg; Seneca Valley hosts Damascus; and Wootton hosts Churchill. Heck, I might be crazy but I could possibly catch one quarter of play at each school and finish with a burger at Quincy’s after the last game.
Finally, I stopped by Gaithersburg on last Friday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the four-way scrimmage between Damascus, River Hill (Howard County), Suitland (Prince Georges County) and host Gaithersburg.
My takeaway is that Suitland is lightening quick, River Hill is big but needs work, Damascus has only one number in mind and Gaithersburg is a contender this year – they show promise.
For my first 2015 edition of Friday Night Lights, below are a few photos from Friday afternoon’s scrimmage. Follow me on Twitter @Photoloaf.
PHOTOS | Phil Fabrizio, Sugarloaf Photography
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