The No. 4 Annapolis at Old Mill football game will be played at 6 p.m. tomorrow. It could not be played Friday night at Bob Golliday Memorial Field because of poor field conditions.
The stakes are high for both teams, and they have to come back again Friday to complete the regular season.
Old Mill (6-2) is bidding for a fourth straight Class 4A East playoff appearance. The Patriots close their season Friday at Glen Burnie (1-8).
Annapolis (8-0) has already clinched a Class 3A berth, tying its county record of six consecutive postseason appearances set from 1984 to 1989. But don't look for the Panthers to let up.
The Panthers hold the No. 1 seed in the 3A state tournament and don't want to relinquish it. In addition, the Panthers would like to become the county's 12th undefeated regular-season (at least nine games) team since 1960 and the fifth from Annapolis.
Annapolis closes out the season Friday at home against Severna Park (7-2). The Falcons clinched their first playoff berth since 1999 with a 24-7 win over Glen Burnie.
The 1998 Broadneck team was the last to go 10-0, while the Panthers have come close in recent years. Roy Brown, who recently became the county's seventh coach to win 100 games, led the Panthers to 9-0 records in 1997 and 1999 before losing the final game by 21-14 to Severna Park and by 22-21 to Broadneck, respectively.
Demario Harris (746 yards, five touchdowns) leads a bevy of Panthers running backs against the Patriots' Brashaad Mayweather (1,522, 19) in tomorrow's game.
Annapolis has the edge in overall speed and on defense.
Quick pops
No. 5 Broadneck (8-1) clinched the 4A East Region title with a 36-20 victory over Chesapeake (4-5) on Friday as Tommy O'Neil ran for 218 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
The Bruins, who are in the playoffs a third straight season and for the fifth time in six years, play host to North County (0-9) Friday in the last game. The Knights could become the county's first winless public school team since Glen Burnie (0-10) in 1999.
Archbishop Spalding was 0-9 in 2000, becoming the county's 11th team since 1980 to go winless.
North County has been outscored 395-36. The county record for most points given up in a season is 408 by Northeast in 1998 after yielding 407 the year before. Both of those teams were 0-10, and the '97 team was the county's lowest scoring public school team ever with 62 points.
Spalding was outscored 376-26 in 1993 for the lowest points scored overall.
Despite the tough year, Greg Justice says he wants to return as North County coach.
"We don't have any athletes," said Justice, who is completing his second season.
"When I took the job, I asked for at least three years minimum. We've gone from 45 players at the start of the season to 24 and that makes it tough to compete. I had to cut some kids and I would rather lose with 11 quality kids than win with 45."
Sideliners
Southern of Harwood (5-3) kept its 2A playoff hopes alive with a 13-0 win over Meade (3-5). ... A 4A East Region final in boys soccer between No. 8 Old Mill (12-2-2) and No. 10 South River (11-3-2) will happen if the former wins at top seed Thomas Johnson (15-0-1) tomorrow and the latter prevails at home vs. Frederick, a 5-0 victor over Westminster. ... Third-year Old Mill boys soccer coach Jeff Martin played on Old Mill's only region champion in 1985, coached by Don Hobbs. ... The Annapolis boys basketball team will play Thomas Johnson of Frederick in the first high school game at the new Comcast Center at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 7 as part of the Morgan Wootten Invitational. ... Former Annapolis two-time All-Metro performer and Sun County Player of the Year Marcus Neal is ranked the fifth best junior college point guard in the nation by Lindsey Magazine as he gets ready to play his second year at Polk Community College in Winter Haven, Fla. ... Two other Annapolis All-Metro players and Neal teammates, Thomas Hawkins and Marcus Johnson, have landed at Division II Glenville State (W.Va.) and Division I College of Charleston (S.C.), respectively. Hawkins played two years at Polk and Johnson played two at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College. ... The Anne Arundel volleyball coaches All-County team is: Amanda Hernandez, Tiffany Johnson and Alex McGuire, Arundel; Cristin Van Dyke and Melissa Golob, Broadneck; and Lynn Cipollone and Laura Hertzman, Severna Park. ... Greg Legrand's last day as a physical education teacher at Arundel High was Friday. Legrand starts his new job as assistant director with the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association tomorrow, but will finish his fifth year coaching the Wildcats' No. 3-ranked volleyball team (13-1). ... Tryouts for the Bay Area Volleyball Academy teams will be from noon to 8 p.m. Nov. 17 at Anne Arundel Community College. Check www.bayvolleyball.com for the age class times or call Michelle Klein at 410-544-2359. ... With five already in and four knocking on the door, the county might have nine 1,000-yard rushers for only the second time - the other in 1996.
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