Two players recovering well after hits to head

Friday night was a scary night for two players in Baltimore City — St. Frances wide receiver Tyree Henry and Edmondson quarterback Michael Taylor — who were taken to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center after suffering hits to the head. Both, however, are recovering well. Henry was hurt after making a reception at Gilman. After apparently losing consciousness briefly, he complained that he couldn’t feel his legs. By the time he left the field, however, feeling had returned and he had movement in all limbs, Panthers coach Henry Russell said Saturday.

“He is doing a lot better,” St. Frances athletic director Nick Myles said Monday.

Henry, who played at Stephen Decatur last season as a junior, remains hospitalized, and Myles said his family did not want to disclose further information.

In Edmondson’s game at Dunbar, Taylor suffered a concussion when he was hit after a run, and he was in obvious pain because his knee also buckled. The senior was discharged from Johns Hopkins later Friday night and was in school on crutches Monday, Red Storm coach Corey Johnson said.

“He had a concussion, but the knee injury is the main part,” Johnson said Monday. “They took X-rays. There wasn’t any structural damage, but they think it’s ligament damage, so he’s scheduled for an MRI this week. He thinks he’s not going to be able to play the rest of the season. I was hoping for good news, but looking at that knee, I don’t think we’re going to get it.”

The Red Storm had another player checked for a concussion Friday night. Junior center Brandon Humphrey not only suffered a concussion, he has a broken rib. Johnson said his mother took him to the hospital after the game and that he will go through the concussion protocol at the Kennedy Krieger Institute this week after complaining of headaches Sunday. Just getting started: New Pikesville coach Jeff Fuller knows that for every couple of steps forward with a team coming off three winless seasons, there’s often a step back.

His Panthers, with just 19 players on the roster, took a monumental step forward Sept. 30 when they defeated Loch Raven, 13-12. It was their first win since October 2012.

The game also included their first touchdowns of the season. Linebacker Chase Green scored after recovering a fumble and quarterback Trey Wiggins scored on a keeper.

“The kids were extremely excited,” Fuller said. “I was more excited for my seniors. Some of these guys were on the team for three years and they had to go through those three years without winning a football game. I was real happy for them to experience that. The next week, people were congratulating them in the hallways and saying ‘Job well done,’ and stuff like that, so that kind of gave us some momentum going into the rest of season.”

The Panthers hoped to ride that momentum at Eastern Tech on Friday night, but they started slowly and fell, 38-6, to one of the perennial powers in Baltimore County’s Class 2A-1A Division.

“I think the guys still had a hangover from the win last week,” Fuller said, “and at halftime, I had to explain to them that this is not the same team as last week. They thought they were going to come out and be able to come away with the same result against Eastern Tech, and that wasn’t the case. They had to come out and compete … and that was a valuable lesson.” Let’s see that again: Two of the area’s most prolific scorers — Dundalk senior quarterback Darrius Sample and South Carroll senior running back Jamar Williams — had fans doing double takes Friday when they matched stellar performances from the past.

Sample, who led the Owls to the state Class 3A final last fall, scored seven touchdowns for the second time in his career in a 71-0 rout of Catonsville. He set a school record with seven a year ago and matched it Friday with four rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns for a total of 358 yards.

Williams, the latest in a line of strong Cavaliers running backs, ran for 257 yards and five touchdowns in a 50-20 win over Winters Mill. He also ran for five touchdowns the previous week, when he broke the school single-game record with 334 yards. By the numbers: Here’s a few of the statistics that stood out in Week 6 around the Baltimore area:

5: Atholton touchdowns scored by the defense or special teams in a 45-20 win over Mount Hebron

9: Wins by Dunbar over Edmondson for the Ben Eaton Memorial Trophy since it was introduced in 2007, including Friday’s 26-14 win 30: Straight Howard County wins by Howard 98: Yards in a touchdown run by Gilman’s Brandon Madison in a 26-10 loss to St. Frances

293: Points scored by Annapolis this fall — the most of any Baltimore-area team