Around 7:15 Friday evening, Largo went back onto Al Laramore Field at Annapolis High and one of the Lions was
overheard saying, "What did they do, bring the whole town?"
The Lions were looking up in the stands at a sea of North County fans wearing red and black.
In front of what may have been the largest crowd (nearly 4,000) to watch a high school football game in Anne Arundel County, No. 2 North County (11-2) won its first 4A state football championship by 23-6 over Largo (10-3) of Prince George's County.
Topper Ellis ran for 127 yards and three touchdowns (two in the last period) on 24 attempts. Ellis finished the season with 1,631 yards rushing on 208 carries (7.8 average), 23 touchdowns and a county-record 2,478 all-purpose yards.
Senior split end Lou Brown grabbed five passes for 79 yards to finish with a county-record 1,120 receiving yards -- 22 short of state record. He broke the record of 1,065 set by Broadneck's Jason Smith in 1993. Smith had a state-record 75 receptions, one more than Brown's 74.
Senior down lineman John Williams (12 tackles, fumble recovery) and junior linebacker Marvin Mobley (seven tackles, fumble recovery and two sacks) led a spirited defense that limited the Lions to 140 yards of total offense (102 rushing and 38 passing), 17 in the second half.
The Knights went right after the Lions with Ellis returning the opening kickoff 79 yards to the Largo 9. Quarterback Earl Sewell fumbled with Largo's John Wagstaff recovering at the 12, but unlike frustrating years past, this team was not about to give up.
"It was a team of overachievers, but they didn't know it," coach Chuck Markiewicz said.
"They had a lot of pride and didn't like being told they couldn't do something. Yes, we've had teams with more talent, but none with more heart."
Anne Arundel 4A teams had gone 6-17 in postseason since the state association went to eight playoff teams in 1986, but are now 5-5 since 1992 with North County (4-3 overall) claiming four of those wins.
It was the Knights' fourth consecutive appearance in the playoffs but their first in the final. The state title was only the third in Anne Arundel County history.
Playing the final in Anne Arundel County seems to be the charm for the Anne Arundel champions. Both Arundel by 13-7 over Prince George's Parkdale in 1975 and Annapolis by 28-14 over Montgomery's Walt Whitman in 1978 won their titles at Severna Park High.
Markiewicz graduated from Arundel in 1973, two years before the Wildcats won it all. He played for Jerry Mears, the Arundel state champion coach, and later worked as an assistant to Mears at Meade before succeeding him in 1988 when he died of cancer.
It's ironic that Markiewicz, who was primarily a linebacker in high school, at Anne Arundel Community College and Salisbury State, was hired as a defensive coordinator under Mears but is best known for his run-and-shoot offense.
His first head coaching position was an unsuccessful 4-6 with Chesapeake in 1982, but at Meade, Markiewicz had back-to-back 7-3 seasons. The '89 season was the key season in his coaching career because that is the year he defied the old guard and employed the run-and-shoot.
Anne Arundel was known as a run-oriented wing-T league until Markiewicz dared to be different and throw the football. Quarterback Billy Maxwell and split end Lonnie Pierce, the first of four Markiewicz-coached county Players of the Year in the last six years, launched the Markiewicz offense of the '90s.
Opening North County in 1990, Markiewicz (64-23 in eight years) took his no-huddle passing attack and Meade defensive coordinator Brad Wilson, who came in for high praise from the boss Friday, along with him. The results have been remarkable.
It was the Wilson defense that was crucial Friday night. Wilson devised a scheme that closed off the corners, attacked with reckless abandon and turned things inside with great success.
The Knights were 8-2 in their inaugural season, missing the 3A playoffs by a game. Moving to 4A in 1991, the Knights made the playoffs and went 8-3 overall. In five years, they have gone 46-11 under Markiewicz.
This season Sewell (156-for-296, 2,237 yards, 18 touchdowns) became the fourth Knights All-County quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards or more.
The reverse philosophy of setting up the run with the pass has encouraged more passing in the county with Sewell the leader among four quarterbacks who threw for 950 yards or more (three over 1,300) this season.