"What a difference a year makes" could easily be the title of a book about the 2011 Aberdeen Eagles varsity football team. Aberdeen saw its season end Friday night at 10-3, a game shy of a state championship game berth. Sad? Yes, but a drastic improvement over the 1-9 finish of 2010.
The 2011 Eagles returned a number of familiar names and faces, but the men leading the group had changed, and veteran coach Johnny Brooks, who had years of success while leading neighboring rival Havre de Grace, took over.
"Actually, after seeing them work out in the summer, I thought we could have a good shot," Brooks said Monday night. "With the talent we had and the coaches we had, I knew we'd be competitive."
The competitiveness was on display early with three straight wins to open the season, highlighted by two 50-point efforts in the first two games.
"The kids really, really wanted to learn, they really wanted to win," Brooks said. "They were willing to do whatever we asked them to do."
The Eagles ran off four straight wins before losing 38-12 to visiting North Harford in what was likely their worst effort of the season, before last week's 41-7 loss at River Hill.
The North Harford loss was followed by a 14-12 to McDonough, a game they probably should have won. The 4-2 record was good, but suddenly the Eagles were beatable.
Brooks points to the team's captains – seniors Kenny Faulcon, Christian Carpenter, Brenton Barnes and Quintel Kelly – for righting the ship from the beginning. Brooks says these kids set the standards, never missing practice. "It didn't happen overnight, primarily a good situation all-in-all," Brooks said.
At 4-2, Aberdeen reeled off six straight wins to reach the state semifinals for just the second time in school history. Interestingly, a 21-12 win over Havre de Grace was the closest of the six wins.
"I always thought we were gonna win anyway, but they had to think it because they were actually on the field," Brooks said.
The highlight win in that stretch was the 38-20 region championship win at North Harford, avenging the week five loss on the Eagles' home gridiron.
"They've always had a decent amount of talent," Brooks said of Aberdeen. "They just needed a little technique and work on a few things."
This season wasn't the best in Aberdeen history, but it is one to get the Eagles back on the winning track. "They bar is set pretty high for you guys to maintain what we did," Brooks said he told his players who will be back next season.
"It was a good season, we had fun," Brooks said.