The race for the Howard County championship entered Weeik 8 with two teams ahead of the pack, and finished with the same two teams deadlocked for first place: Atholton (7-1) and Glenelg (7-1).
Atholton shut out defending 3A state champion Wilde Lake (4-4), 35-0, while Glenelg scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to get past Howard (5-3), 35-13.
The Lions led, 7-0, after the first quarter and cut Glenelg's lead to 14-13 with 23 seconds left in the third quarter. But when Glenelg scored on a 72-yard hook and ladder play from Mark Darden to Curran Robertson to Nick Crabill, the balance swayed in the Gladiators favor.
"They were making some plays and we weren't and fortunately that changed the momentum a little bit on our side," Glenelg coach Butch Schaffer said.
After that, Joe Tolbert stripped a ball free from a Howard receiver at midfield, and Ryan Perry recovered a blocked Glenelg field goal attempt and returned it to Howard's five–yard line, setting up a short touchdown run by Glenn Lucas. Finally, JT Komsa's 80-yard fumble return for a score with 1:23 left turned the close game into a blowout.
"We were really fortunate to get a couple big plays on some freak kind of things," Schaffer said.
Atholton's remaining games are home against Mt. Hebron (3-5) on Oct. 29 and at Centennial (0-8) on Nov. 4.
Glenelg plays at River Hill (6-2) Oct. 28 and finishes the season on Nov. 4 with a home game against winless Marriotts Ridge.
"River Hill's playing tremendous, they're back to the old River Hill," Schaffer said. "They've got their guys healthy and it's going to be a battle, it's going to be a big challenge for us and I think our young kids are going to come to play."
G (7-1) 0 14 0 21 - 35
Ho (5-3) 7 0 6 0 - 13
First quarter
Ho:
Ulysse 1 pass from Wade (Lee kick).
Second quarter
G: Crabill 11 run (Brister kick), 9:28.
G: Brookhart 4 pass from Darden (Brister kick), :29.
Third quarter
Ho: Bonavitacola 1 run (kick failed), :23.
Fourth quarter
G: Crabill 72 reception from Darden (Brister kick), 7:26.
G: Lucas 1 run (Brister kick), 2:17.
G: Komsa 80 fumble recovery (Brister kick), 1:23.
Around the league
Long Reach (5-3), playing in front of its homecoming crowd, stunned defending county and regional champion Hammond (5-3), 33-32, in overtime on Saturday.
Hammond led the game at halftime, 20-13, but the Lightning tied it, 26-26, in the fourth quarter on a 25 yard pass from Elijah Harris (7/11, 189 yards, TD) to Jack St. Hilaire.
The game featured two of the league's premiere running backs: Hammond's Devon Paye (233 rushing yards, 3 TDs) and Long Reach's Allen Cross (185 yards, 4 TDs).
Long Reach had 470 yards of total offense in the game, and for the season, Cross has rushed for 1,138 yards and 13 TDs, approaching the school record of 1,206 yards with two games left.
Hammond scored first in overtime on a 10-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Tyler Martin to Akili Moore, but the Golden Bears' extra point attempt was blocked by Cross, who had a career game. Long Reach then scored on a short run by Cross, and Mike Evans converted the extra point for the win.
Ha (5-3) 7 13 6 0 6 - 32
LR (5-3) 7 6 7 6 7 - 33
First quarter
LR: Cross 8 run (Jones kick).
Ha: Paye 6 run (Whittaker kick).
Second quarter
LR: Cross 1 run (kick failed).
Ha: Paye 78 run (kick failed).
Ha: Hall 90 interception return (Whittaker kick).
Third quarter
LR: Cross 2 run (Jones kick).
Ha: Paye 61 run (kick failed).
Fourth quarter
LR: St. Hilaire 25 pass from Harris (kick failed).
Overtime
Ha: Moore 10 pass from Martin (kick failed).
LR: Cross 2 run (Evans kick).
Atholton 35, Wilde Lake 0
Atholton (7-1) earned its third shut out of the season on Saturday in a dominant showing at Wilde Lake (4-4). Brian McMahon threw 10-yard touchdown passes to Austin Tennessee and Dequan Ellison, and Kenny Thomas rushed for 110 yards and two TDs. Ean Katz and Steve Whiting each made two sacks, as the Raiders defense tallied seven sacks total and did not allow a single passing yard, and only 87 yards of total offense.
The Wildecats defense kept the Raiders from scoring for the first 20 minutes of the game.
A
(7-1) 0 13 8 14 - 35
WL
(4-4) 0 0 0 0 - 0
Second quarter
A: Tennessee 10 pass from McMahon (Haas kick), 3:43.
A: Ellison 10 pass from McMahon (kick failed), :51.
Third quarter
A: Thomas 3 run (Ellison pass from McMahon), 7:32.
Fourth quarter
A: Thomas 1 run (kick failed), 10:59.
A: Newsome 2 run (Newsome run), :52.
Reservoir 42, Oakland Mills 0
Reservoir (5-3) had little trouble dispatching Oakland Mills (1-7), 43-0. It was the Gators' third shut out of the season and fourth win in a row. Senior quarterback E.J. Montgomery threw four touchdown passes in the win, including scoring passes of 28 and 70 yards to Kenny Frazier. Since Sept. 30, Reservoir has outscored four opponents 138-13.
Re (5-3) 10 12 14 7 - 43
OM (1-7) 0 0 0 0 - 0
First quarter
Re: Safety (holding penalty in end zone), 4:52.
Re: Frazier 28 pass from Montgomery (Simms pass from Montgomery), 1:39.
Second quarter
Re: Armstrong 11 pass from Montgomery (kick failed), 11:20.
Re: Usher 48 pass from Montgomery (kick failed), 5:39.
Third quarter
Re: Gallagher 10 blocked punt by Motta return (Marsh kick), 5:56.
Re: Frazier 70 pass from Montgomery (Marsh kick), 4:02.
Fourth quarter
Re: Frazier 2 run (Marsh kick), 10:21.