Life the morning after was beautiful for North Carroll football coach Bill Rumbaugh yesterday.
There was a call from Francis Scott Key football coach Mike Coons offering congratulations, the bowl of cereal for breakfast tasted better and the warm November sun was shining brilliantly.
Rumbaugh had reason to celebrate after North Carroll ended a 28-game Carroll County-record losing streak with a 20-19 overtime victory Friday night at Bethesda-Chevy Chase.
Mike Green scored the winning touchdown on a 10-yard sweep around right end.
Green, a junior running back, said: "We were sick of losing. You do all that hard work every week and then lose on Friday night. tTC This time, we have something to show for it. It was great."
Green carried 21 times for 113 yards, running mostly behind seniors Bill Beltz and Bert Magladry.
Beltz said yesterday morning: "I'm sore as everything, but I don't feel it. The last time I won a football game was on the freshman team [12-6 over Liberty]. This win was three years in the making."
Beltz, called up to the varsity midway through his sophomore season, was part of 23 of the 28 losses.
When asked whether he ever thought playing football and losing so much was worth all the effort, Beltz said: "Yes, but I love football. When the team is losing, you have to find something positive in your personal accomplishments to keep going."
Beltz and Magladry were going out to lunch yesterday to "talk about the game" and then they would watch college football.
"Bert [who like Beltz doubles as a defensive lineman] was one of the reasons we got to overtime because he got a finger on the extra point they missed, keeping the game tied [at 13] late in the fourth quarter," Beltz said.
Once into overtime, the Panthers won the toss, took the football and scored on the first play from the 10-yard line on Green's run. Josh Bowie kicked his second extra point to give North Carroll a 20-13 lead.
But BCC came right back to score on a 10-yard run by Darren Hudgson on its first play from the 10, reducing the lead to 20-19.
The Barons then chose to go for the win on a two-point conversion pass, but sophomore outside linebacker Chad Crowl tipped the ball on the pass attempt and the ball fell harmlessly to the ground.
Rumbaugh said: "As our players watched the ball go to the ground, it took a second for it to sink in that we had won. Everything was blurry. Then, our players started hugging and crying. A lot of parents had made the trip down there, and that helped make it even more special."
Rumbaugh, who had been the head coach for 18 of the losses, said that he had tried to downplay the streak but that it was impossible.
"Everybody was looking at us and talking about the streak," he said. "It really meant a lot to me to have Mike Coons call and congratulate us. Through all the losses, I tried to be honest with our players before a game and tell them what our chances were of winning if we played well against the tough teams on our schedule. You can't fool kids; they're too smart. You lose credibility if you give them a lot of bull."
North Carroll trailed 7-0 at the half but drove 80 yards to score on a 2-yard run by Bryan Hall on the first play of the fourth quarter. Bowie kicked the extra point for a 7-7 tie.
North Carroll's Chris Bonner set up the late third-quarter drive by intercepting a pass in the end zone.
After the 80-yard march, the Panthers got the ball back quickly when the Barons fumbled on their 20-yard line, with Eric Giffi recovering. Four plays later, Hall ran 1 yard for a touchdown and a 13-7 advantage.
Bowie missed the extra point.
Then BCC used a lot of the fourth-quarter clock with a touchdown drive to tie the game at 13.