MIAA A
Archbishop Spalding was idle last week, as the Cavaliers prepare for a huge out-of-league showdown this week with St Joseph’s Prep of Philadelphia. The Hawks are ranked #9 in the country, with their only loss coming to #5 IMG, 17-14.
The Cavaliers only loss this season came to another nationally ranked foe from Philly, Imhotep Charter Prep, 21-17, in early September in the ‘City of Brotherly Love’. The Panthers remain unbeaten at 8-0.
St Joseph’s Prep has talent all over the field, as one would think a nationally top ten ranked team would have. The Hawks traveled to Florida in early September and ran away from Sunshine State power Lakeland, 45-24.
Lakeland was an undefeated Florida state champion last season, and finished ranked among the top 15 teams in the country. In addition, the Hawks posted a 21 point win Don Bosco Prep NJ, and a 22-0 shutout of Philadelphia Catholic League rival La Salle College.
On offense, St Jospeh’s Prep features Cincinnati commit Somaj Jones at quarterback. Jones also held offers from Oklahoma, Penn State, and Maryland, among others. At receiver, Jones has a pair of ‘Power 5’ targets in Brandon Rehmann and David Washington Jr. Rehmann is committed to West Virginia, while Washington Jr is committed to Kentucky. Both seniors held offers from Oregon and Penn State, among others.
Defensively, the Hawks boast three four-star recruits. One is senior cornerback Omillio Agard, who chose Wisconsin over 30 other offers, including Alabama, Georgia, and USC. Junior linebacker Anthony Sacca (6’3 235) is another four-star, already holding offers from Georgia, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, among others. Maxwell Roy (6’3 270) is ranked among the top 20 defensive linemen in the country in the ‘24 class, and has offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, and Maryland.
After the clash with the Hawks, the Cavaliers (6-1) will close the regular season going to Loyola, then hosting Mt St Joe. Both the Dons and Gaels are a game back of the Cavaliers in the loss column in league play, as is McDonogh. These three have each split the two games between the others, and if Spalding is to run the table in weeks nine and ten, there’s a good chance all three finish with two league losses, filling the tournament bracket.
Since 2019, when the Cavaliers had an off-year, and finished 5-6, they’ve been all but unbeatable in league play. Since that season, the Cavaliers have won 19 of 20 games versus league foes, with every one of their victories coming by 11 points or more.
Mt St Joseph survived a wild one with McDonogh, holding a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, before having to produce a last second 26-20 comeback victory.
Senior quarterback Winston Watkins propelled an opening drive touchdown, that was capped off by a four yard score from Zion Williams. Williams second score with 25 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Gaels a 16-6 lead at intermission, where it would stay at into the fourth quarter. Then, the Eagles Chase Green took an option to the outside for 24 yards to the end zone to cut the margin to 16-13, with 9:05 to play.
The Gaels drove down and got a second field goal from Adam King to push their lead to 19-13, with just under four minutes remaining. The Eagles then put together their best offensive drive of the night, going 80 yards and scoring on a six yard touchdown pass from sophomore Braeden Palozzo to Brandon Finney with 1:06 to play to tie the game, before the extra point gave the Eagles a 20–19 edge, with 66 seconds to go.
Watkins, the Gaels senior quarterback who surpassed 5,000 career passing yards in the first quarter, orchestrated a 73 yard game-winning scoring drive to knock off the Eagles. After connecting with Devean Byrd on a critical fourth-and-ten situation, he found his favorite target again for a 33 yard touchdown with nine seconds to play.
Palozzo completed 20 of 33 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. Palozzo, a sophomore, surpassed the 3,000 career passing yards mark, needing only two yards coming in. Finney caught eight receptions for 183 yards and two scores.
Loyola (4-2) put away Pallotti (1-6), 44-20, after the Dons built a 28-3 halftime lead over the Panthers. The Dons visit Gilman (3-4) on Friday. Calvert Hall (3-4) posted a 20-12 victory over Gilman, as sophomore Harrison O’Connell rushed for 103 yards. Calvert Hall travels to Mt St Joe on Saturday. McDonogh is idle this week, as is Pallotti.
MIAA B
Concordia Prep stayed unbeaten in league play with a 21-0 decision over defending league champion St Mary’s. Concordia Prep struggled offensively, but their defense made the most of their opportunities, and registered their third shutout of the season. Prep senior Jaylin Harcum picked off three St Mary’s passes, and returned two for touchdowns. Prep managed only 149 offensive yards on 52 plays, but Harcum and the defense held their opponent to less than ten points for the fifth time in seven games.
Concordia Prep will host Long Island Lutheran on Saturday, with the Crusaders carrying a 6-1 mark. St Mary’s (3-3) hosts Archbishop Curley (4-3) on Friday. The Friars are coming off of a 44-7 rout of Mt Carmel (2-5), where senior Caron Madison rushed for 198 yards and two touchdowns, and junior Dylan Fish added 101 rushing yards and three touchdowns. John Carroll kept pace with Curley for second place following the Patriots 27-7 win over Boys Latin (1-5). St Paul’s (4-3) handled Severn (4-3), the MIAA C division leader, 23-7.
HS Sports Analyst
Willie, a native of Chicago, and now a resident of Columbia for 40 years, is an educator at Homewood Center in Howard County, after spending 12 years as a real estate agent, following 10 years of running a small men’s retail company. Willie has contributed to Max Preps, Digital Sports, and Varsity Sports Network. Willie has produced MPSSAA top 25 rankings for both football and basketball for 15 years, across various platforms. From a large ‘sports family’, Willie’s brother Mike led Reservoir High to the 3A basketball state title game in 2018, while his nephew Anthony serves as the Indianapolis Colts College Scouting Coordinator.