Arundel, Broadneck ready for challenges
Wildcats set for Dundalk; Bruins to meet Quince Orchard
“It is what it is.”
That’s coach Jack Walsh and Arundel football’s approach now knowing starting quarterback Gavin Kamachi is officially out for Friday’s Class 4A/3A state semifinal at Dundalk.
The Wildcats hoped they dodged a bullet. Kamachi dislocated his ring finger and also broke his knuckles in two places on his throwing hand during a bye-week practice the first week of November. Arundel at the time believed it had lost its key signal-caller, potentially ending its state championship ambitions.
However, Arundel dressed the junior for its second-round game with Leonardtown as an emergency backup. Circumstances called Kamachi to the floor again when receiver Andre Dotson, who’d stepped in under center, left the field for an injury of his own.
Spoiled hand or no, Kamachi tossed 9-for15 for 112 yards and two touchdowns, lifting Arundel to a 29-3 victory. He remained the de-facto starter in preparation for a state quarterfinal against Seneca Valley, where he’d opened the contest 4-for-8 for 59 yards and a touchdown.
Then, with two minutes left in the second quarter, the quarterback was sacked resulting in a broken his collarbone. Running back Ahmad Taylor, who rushed for 879 yards on the season, took the remaining snaps while sophomore TJ Mordecai (75 rushes for 309 yards) ran the ball.
The Taylor-Mordecai combo is what the Wildcats will deploy against Dundalk.
“It’s a kick in the gut,” Walsh said. “We have a lot of senior receivers that have been really active in our offense, who’d benefited from his play. That’s kind of shut down, so to speak. The receivers and running backs all understand their roles have changed drastically.” With offense in turmoil, Walsh’s faith rests heavily in his defense. It surrendered just two rushing yards against Seneca Valley. The starting defense has averaged less than seven points a game.
“They’re pretty stout to say the least,” Walsh said. “We need that Friday, to say the least. Dundalk is really good.”
The Owls (10-1) carved through six Baltimore County squads without a loss, its one loss coming to Westminster by a five-point margin in September. Last year’s 4A/3A state finalist levied a 258-58 score differential during the season and haven’t given up a point, let alone a touchdown, since Oct. 21.
Though Dundalk senior quarterback Ja Bonner carries 1,105 passing yards into Friday, Walsh is more apprehensive of the Owls running backs — especially senior
Jordan Fiorenza, who’s amassed 1,687 yards on the ground with 19 touchdowns in 11 games.
“If we can get a similar performance from defense [like Seneca Valley], we’ll have a shot at the end,” Walsh said. “If we can’t, then we won’t.”
As Walsh said, “it is what it is.” He noted that three dozen other teams would happily like to be in Arundel’s shoes now — still playing the day after Thanksgiving, two victories from a title.
This year’s team, the coach said, carries itself with maturity now, too. The Wildcats that were dismantled, 40-6, by Dundalk last year are older.
“I think the kids last year agreed we were excited to be there, but that we weren’t expected to be there,” Walsh said. “With this group, that has been the plan since Jan. 2. Our slogan’s been, ‘State semis or better.’ We’re going with the purpose of winning a football game.”
That sort of resilience is exactly the armor Broadneck coach Rob Harris anticipates will shield the Bruins (11-1) against 2021 4A champion Quince Orchard (12-0).
No Anne Arundel team has won a championship since 2011. Harris is very aware of what’s at stake. Broadneck isn’t just facing its first potential state final berth since 2003. It has the entire county on its back.
“We can beat these guys. We might lose, too. But we’re not going in afraid,” Harris said. “We’re going in expecting to compete and win. I don’t care who knows it.”
Though few return from last year’s team, many who make up the starting lineup now were key backups who felt the overtime loss to C.H. Flowers in the 2021 state quarterfinal deeply.
“They got a taste. They got a feel for what it takes to win that big game,” Harris said.
The teams shared a common opponent — Old Mill. The Bruins stomped the Patriots, 49-0, on Oct. 21. The Cougars couldn’t manage a touchdown against Old Mill until just before halftime in last week’s 21-6 win
Harris thinks little of it. Old Mill’s much tougher than Broadneck made them look; the Bruins simply played its best football that day.
“But it does give our kids a little insight to say, ‘Hey.’ They already believed they could win. We thought we could hang with them,” Harris said. “Now, we feel really good that we can go up there and have a hell of a game.”
The Bruins unleashed terror against every team they’ve faced since falling to Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion Archbishop Spalding in Week 1. Since then, Broadneck’s tallied 412 points and given up only 80. From Week 5 through the end of the regular season , the defense did not surrender a single touchdown.
Many of those wins were blowouts, and that’s good for confidence, Harris knows. But the coach is equally, if not more thankful, that teams have thrown real challenges against his team, too.
Two weeks ago, Meade led Broadneck by seven well into the third quarter before Broadneck pulled away for a 30-14 win. Similarly, Severna Park, though it did not score, limited Broadneck’s offense to just 16 points. It is the only game, other than Spalding, where the Bruins didn’t hit 30 points.
Broadneck’s Week 5 game against North County also served as a turning point. The Knights were the only team other than Spalding to score in double figures against the Bruins, though they lost, 49-26.
“Our kids really relaxed in the second half.
We challenged our kids: ‘You can’t have these kinds of lapses,’ ” Harris said. “They dialed in.”
Even in the postseason, Broadneck’s proven just as tough a nut to crack. The Bruins held Meade to 112 yards of total offense and Winston Churchill to 141.
When Broadneck only returned seven starters to August’s practices, Harris was not quite certain just what this team’s potential truly was. Senior quarterback Cam Catterton, though a son of the neighborhood, was still new to Harris, as Catterton spent his last couple years with South River. Not only did the Bruins graduate four-year starting signalcaller Josh Ehrlich, but also all-star running back, Davion White.
What Harris got was an offense fully armed in every department. Catterton wields 2,162 passing yards and 22 touchdowns, but he’s not carrying the board by a long shot. Harris praises “versatile” sophomore Ian Mauldin, whom the coach describes as a “big kid with some speed and some moves,” for becoming the full-package running back Broadneck needed. Mauldin’s rushed 142 times for 1,023 yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games.
Then there’s agile receiver Eli Harris (57 receptions, 935 yards), who challenges opposing defenses vertically, and slotback Machi Evans, who not only has 746 receiving yards on 44 catches, but makes key blocks allowing Mauldin and other runners to flourish.
And the stats are indicative of the willingness to battle with one another that this team has, Harris said. They know this is their chance to impress.
“Our kids believe in themselves. They believe in their coaches, and our coaches believe in our players,” Harris said. “And we are super excited to meet the mighty, powerful, unstoppable Quince Orchard — at Quince Orchard.”