North Point football defeats Great Mills Hornets
Eagles get out in front early and prevail
The North Point Eagles football team traveled to St. Mary’s County to challenge the Great Mills Hornets in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division contest Friday night.
The Eagles led at halftime 14- 3 and took over in the second half by scoring 21 points for a 35- 3 victory.
North Point ran for a total of 372 yards and passed for 224 yards on the night.
Eagles head coach Tom Petre said, “We started slow the first half and picked up momentum in the third quarter.”
Jemichael Jones ran for two touchdowns, threw for two to Malik Lawerence and Zach Doss. Daion Harley rounded out the scoring in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles ( 7- 1, 4- 0 SMAC Potomac) will host Huntingtown at 7 p. m. Friday. The Hurricanes were edged by Leonardtown in Week 8, 12- 9. Great Mills and its head coach Tyrone Bell had Vincent Chapman in under center as Yann Zeba was not cleared to start due to a concussion. Zeba hasn’t had any symptoms for a couple days and should be cleared to play for this week’s contest, at 6 p. m. Friday versus visiting St. Charles, by Thursday.
“He did the best he could,” Bell said of Chapman. “We were able to finish drives. They played hard, they ran and played to the best of their ability. We’re expecting Zeba back, but we’ll be practicing Chapman. With a smaller team like ours, you have to be prepared each week in case of illness or injury.”
The Hornets ( 3- 5, 3- 1), who had 24 dressed players in Friday’s loss to North Point, will have a fuller roster this week against a St. Charles team that shut out Northern in Week 7, 14- 0.
Chapman was 4 for 12 passing for 72 yards, with the longest throw going for 29 yards.
Senior Jeremiah Baldwin had three catches for 67 yards and sophomore Troy Herbert had one catch for five yards.
Defensively, junior Marlin Smith led with three solo tackles and senior Tajon Whiten led with seven assisted tackles.
Bell said he’s excited to see freshman Daelandre’ Barnes get the start this week.
“He’s a good story,” Bell said. “He left the junior varsity team this year and eventually apologized the the entire team and the coaches and asked to come back. I asked him why he wanted to come back, and he said he didn’t want to be a quitter. He’s making his first varsity start Friday night. He’s one to watch.”
Bell said everyone’s focused on the Class 3A South Region playoffs. Winning this week versus the Spartans and against Chopticon next week is essential to make the cut.
“We’re chasing a dream that we haven’t had in a long time,” Bell said. “Every week the kids seem to get more and more focused. Years ago, the 35- 3 score use to be the halftime score, so we’re holding teams back more now.”