Howard County Football Week 6

Oakland Mills (5-0) @ Atholton (4-1).  Game of the week and most likely game of the season.  Atholton high will be overflowing for this one.  Both teams come in with high powered offense and stingy defenses.  OM has been perfect in the season while Atholton suffered an embarrassing loss to Delaware power Middletown.  I feel like OM is on a mission this year, and despite Atholton having an extra week to prepare for some strange reason, I like the Scorps here.  Atholton has demonstrated they struggle to deal with team speed which OM has in abundance, OM by one score.  

Glenelg (3-2) @ Howard (4-1). Another great game here in week 6.  The 2 oldest schools in the county compete for the ridiculous “ELGARD” trophy.  Both teams lost last week and will be hungry for a win.  The lions get their head coach and best player back.  Howard will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of their one and only state championship from 1974!  I feel like the Howard O will bring more to the table than the glads can handle.  Howard by a score.  

River Hill (3-2) @ Marriotts Ridge (4-1).  Great matchup here as these teams are very even.  RH has been rolling-winning their last 3.  Some position adjustments on the defensive side of the ball have really paid off.  MR has certainly exceeded my expectations for them as they are off to a 4-1 start.  Look for the RH ground and pound to take over this game.  RH by one score.  

Wilde Lake (3-2) @ Guilford Park (3-2) Wilde lake is coming off a major upset overtime win vs (then) undefeated Howard.  GP started blazing hot out of the gates this year winning their first 3, but reality has set in as they get to the established programs in HOCO.  The panthers will fight,  but the WildEcats will prevail by 2 scores.  

Reservoir (2-3) @ Franklin (3-2).  Franklin has more state championships in the last 11 seasons (3) than the entire Howard County League (0).  I give Resi credit for scheduling a program of this caliber.  This certainly isn’t a dominant Franklin team as their QB has struggled this year.  They have a serious playmaker in #5, but they have problems getting him the ball.  Other than that, the main hall carrier is a sophomore.  They do have a nice looking CB,  but he is not a factor on offense.  Franklin by a score.  

Centennial (0-5) @ Mount Hebron (2-3). Centennial had 2 weeks to prepare for this game after declining to play Atholton last week.  Do the Eagles have what it takes to knock off a defending county champion?  NO.  Hebron will roll here to even up their record.  Vikes by 2 scores.  

Hammond (0-5) @ Long Reach (0-5).  Well you love to see it, because somebody is getting their first win here in week 6.  I’m really torn here-Hammond has stayed with a few of the better teams in the county-they are not laying down!  They should be super fired up to play a weakened lightning squad.  I’m calling it here -Hammond by a score!

Eagles will take 'em down in a complete LAUGHER

Week 6 Postmortem 

Not my best week of predictions.  4-3 on the week for an overall record of 33-9 through 6 weeks of action.  I had RH, WL and OM winning and they did not.  

Atholton (5-1) vs. Oakland Mills (5-1) was a tremendous football game.  It had a little bit of everything including KO returns, big pass plays, big run plays and an impressive display of ground and pound by the home team Raiders. The raiders ran back the opening KO and that was really the difference in the game as OM was never able to regain the lead after that.  Ramsey is as advertised as a runner for OM as he had a spectacular long TD run late in the game.  It was not enough however, as Atholton went into ball control mode late.  QB Bell and RB Mungo are impressive players for Atholton and both performed well last night.  There is a new number 1 in the HOCO power rankings and no undefeated teams remain.  

The shocker of the week has to be Wilde Lake (3-3)falling to first year varsity program Guilford Park (3-3).  I honestly did not have GP winning any games after their first 3, but congratulations to them.  They have a good chance to knock off struggling LR next week. Huge win over an established HOCO power.  

Howard (5-1) blanks Glenelg (3-3) 14-0.  Howard remains firmly in the number 3 spot in the county.  Howard vs. Atholton week 8 will be titanic.  

Marriotts Ridge (5-1) continues their unexpectedly good season with a solid 21-7 win over River Hill (3-3)

Mount Hebron (3-3) evens up their record against Centennial (0-6).  Word is Centennial WILL play this week vs. OM.   

Long Reach (1-5) breaks into the win column with a victory over Hammond (0-6)

Reservoir (2-4) gets 30 hung on them in a shutout loss to Baltimore County Power Franklin