Milford Mill coach Homer Seidel has a tough act to follow. His Millers, who went 23-0 and won the state Class 1A championship last year, are one of the favorites to do it again.
"To me, every year is different. This is a different group of kids, and what we did last year was special," said Seidel. "But this is another year, and we have to get it together again."
The ninth-ranked Millers (1-0) looked pretty together last night, getting 34 points from All-Metro Blanchard Hurd en route to an 89-62 victory over Sparrows Point (0-1) in a Baltimore County 1A-2A league game.
"It's the first game, and we haven't played another team in two weeks," Seidel said. "We turned the ball over too much, but other than that, I was pleased."
After getting a 16-10 second-quarter lead, the Millers got sloppy on defense, and Sparrows Point tied the game at 16 with 7:11 left in the half.
The Millers tightened their defense and held the Pointers scoreless for the next 5:26 and built a 28-16 lead to put the game away.
Senior Carnell Damon led the Pointers with 26 points.
One of the keys for the Millers this year is how they play when Hurd is double- and triple-teamed. They responded last night as senior forward Keon Sellman scored 12 of the Millers' first 20 points.
"I don't think he realizes how important he is to our team," Seidel said of Sellman. "He's a very stealthy player, and his court sense really helps us."
Hurd, who will attend Loyola College on a basketball scholarship next season, credits Sellman with helping him improve. "Sometimes when I'm down, he'll pick me up," said Hurd. "He did that tonight and you see what happened."
Sellman said he knows the team needs a leader other than Hurd.
saw [last night] that I had to take control, and I did," said Sellman. "We have a new point guard [sophomore A.J. Herbert] and until he feels comfortable, I need to step up."
Said Hurd: "We were kind of pumped up tonight. We thought we should have been ranked higher, and that we don't get the respect we deserve. If we play as a team, there's no telling how far we can go."