59 replies to this topic

[Pedro Cerrano]

Eagles will see the 2 seed in the final

[Tomgruneberg]

Playoffs week 2 Howard County

 

We could have as few as 2 Hoco teams left after this weekend or as many as 5.  I’m 65-12 overall on the picks through 10 weeks of action.   

 

4A/3A WEST

Frederick (5-5) @ Marriotts Ridge (6-4).  Pretty even match up here.  These teams have one common opponent in TJ-Frederick beat them by 29 while MR only beat them by 11.  Frederick DID lose to HOCO’s own Guilford Park in week 1, while MR did not play GP.  Ridge has lost to 3 of the top teams in our league (HOW, GLEN, RH) while Frederick has a signature win over Middletown and just plays in a tougher league overall.   Again, this will be a close one but I’ve got the Cadets by a score.  

 

3A SOUTH

Stephen Decatur (8-1) @ Guilford Park (10-0).  My goodness what a game here so early in the playoffs.  Since losing their first game to WIHI, Decatur has ripped off 8 straight wins.  They bring a game changing QB and a terrific secondary into the fight.  GP brings the leading rusher in the state along with a stud QB and a Spalding bounce back on defense.  I’m resorting to my HOCO homerdom here, and picking the 2025 Howard County Champion——Panthers by a score.  

 

3A NORTH

Atholton (6-3) @ Westminster (8-1).  Westminster has ripped off 8 wins after losing their opener to Franklin.  This includes wins over traditional powers Urbana and Damascus.  Everything about Atholton flows through their star QB.  Will he have the time to throw to his speedy receiving corps?  Will he be able to get crucial yards on his designed run plays?  My memory also goes back a few years where Atholton has been eliminated earlier than they should have been in the playoffs.  I think that trend continues until I’m proven wrong.  Give me the Owls at home by a score.  

 

2A WEST

Glenelg (6-4) @ Oakland Mills (9-1).  Glenelg run game looked very good last week vs. Wilde Lake.  It will need to be even better this week if Big Red wants to hang with OM.  These teams played in week 5 of the regular season with OM running the clock 50-6.  Glenelg has certainly improved since then, but so have the Scorps.  I see this one being closer than week 5 but still an OM win.  The Scorpions just bring too much to the party for the Glads-OM by 2 scores.  

 

River Hill (7-3) @ Howard (7-3) factoid of the day: River Hill is 17-11 all time vs. Howard High.  These 2 teams live on Clarksville Pike about 8 miles apart and did not play each other during the regular season.  Few squads out there are hotter than the Hawks.  Howard limped into the playoffs losing their last 3 regular season games before smacking LR last week.  RH blew out Poolesville.  The Hawks obviously need to contain Howard’s rushing attack while chewing up some clock with their own ground and pound.  Easier said than done, but I believe they will do it.  Hawks by a score.  

[Pedro Cerrano]

Eagles promoted to top division

[glenn__davis]

Eagles promoted to top division

 

I am sorry to have missed this bit all season.

 

My nephew plays for Winters Mill here in Carroll County.  The first week they played Poolesville and killed them.  I went to the game and said to my brother, Winters Mill might be good, but Poolesville is very, very bad.  The next week they played Centennial on the road and my brother texted me "This team makes Poolesville look amazing."  Then our school (Man Valley) played them and it was like 32-0 at the half or something like that.

 

Kind of weird, they have a very strong soccer team and I think their boys cross country team won states.  Apparently none of the good athletes there want to play football.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I am sorry to have missed this bit all season.

My nephew plays for Winters Mill here in Carroll County. The first week they played Poolesville and killed them. I went to the game and said to my brother, Winters Mill might be good, but Poolesville is very, very bad. The next week they played Centennial on the road and my brother texted me "This team makes Poolesville look amazing." Then our school (Man Valley) played them and it was like 32-0 at the half or something like that.

Kind of weird, they have a very strong soccer team and I think their boys cross country team won states. Apparently none of the good athletes there want to play football.

All season?? Pedro has been at this one for at least 3 years. I respect the dedication.

[glenn__davis]

All season?? Pedro has been at this one for at least 3 years. I respect the dedication.

I love it even more then. Go Eagles.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I love it even more then. Go Eagles.

BSL has caught Centennial Fever!

[Tomgruneberg]

Week 2 Playoffs Postmortem 

 

Wow-what a Friday night for Howard County Football.  4 teams advance to the “reseed” round 3.  I went a lousy 2-3 on my picks to move to 67-15.  

 

2A WEST

Gotta start with the elephant in the room and that’s Glenelg (7-4) UPSETTING 1 seed Oakland Mills (9-2) by a score of 15-7.  I don’t think anyone picked this one, as most people had OM making a DEEP playoff run.  Hats off to the Big Red coaches and players for showing no fear of OM and leaving Kilimanjaro with an impressive road win.  

 

Staying in the west-Howard (8-3) earns a tough victory over a hot River Hill (7-4) squad in a game that came down to the wire.  Howard 14-7.

 

4A/3A WEST

Marriotts Ridge (7-4) with a big victory over Frederick (5-6) 36-35.  Hoco victories over Fredco teams are relatively rare although 2 Howard teams have beaten Frederick High this year (Guilford Park week 1).  

 

3A SOUTH

Guilford Park (11-0) with a statement win over 2 time state champion Stephen Decatur (8-2).  Close game here through halftime, but then GP pulled away to win 28-14.  

 

3A NORTH

Westminster (9-1) over Atholton (6-4) 45-21.  Early word is the Owls head down to Guilford Park next week.  

 

STILL ALIVE:

MR

GP

HOW

GLEN

 

SEASON COMPLETE:

RESI

CEN

MTH

LR

WL

HAM

ATH

OM

RH

[Pedro Cerrano]

Should have taken the eagles your record would be better

[Tomgruneberg]

Howard County Playoffs Week 3

 

We enter the state quarterfinal round with 4 HOCO teams still alive.  The state “reseeds” the teams based on their regular season points.  We’re guaranteed at least 1 team moving to the “Final 4” since Howard and Glenelg play each other.  I’m 67-15 through 11 weeks of the 2025 season.  

 

4A/3A

Marriotts Ridge (7-4) @ Mergenthaler (9-1) (Baltimore City).  Mustang vs Mustang alert!   MR had a huge comeback win last week over a tough Frederick squad.  This week they face another tall order in Mergenthaler Vocational Technical School AKA MERVO.  Mervo has some very impressive recent history with 2 state championships in the last 5 seasons (‘21, ‘23) PLUS a finalist appearance just last year.  They lost week 1 to Linganore and haven’t lost since,  beating perennial power Dunbar along the way.  This pedigree would seem to be too much for the Rowdy Ridge.  I’ve got Mervo advancing by 2 scores.  

 

3A

Westminster (9-1) (Carroll County) @ Guilford Park (11-0).  1 loss in 21 games for these 2 juggernauts.  The owls ground and pound is legendary, but the Panthers have one of the top backs in the state.  GP also has a nice pass game and stingy defense.  They just knocked off a 2 time state champ last week.  2 very good coaching staffs guarantee that this one will be an epic match up.  I wasn’t FULLY on board the Gilly Park bandwagon until about halfway through the season,  but you can count me as fully on board today.  I won’t make a huge deal of it but Westminster has only played 1 game on turf-this benefits GP.  Give me the HOCO champion here by a score.  

 

2A

Glenelg (7-4)  @ Howard (8-3).  These teams met in week 6 with Howard taking a 14-7 win,  but this rivalry goes back much farther than that.  We’re talking close to 70 years that the 2 oldest high schools in Howard County have been slugging it out.  As far as this year, you might as well flip a coin.  I’ve picked Glenelg to lose the last 2 weeks and been wrong.  This defense held the extremely high powered OM Scorps to ONE SCORE.  Run game is resurgent.  But something is telling me I have to go with the home team, the higher seed, the Lions.  I believe this is the week that the Big Red fairy tale of the ‘25 playoffs comes to an end.  And with that being said I’m picking Howard by one score.  

[Pedro Cerrano]

Eagles gold medal winners — lock

[glenn__davis]

Westminster with a dominant win over Guilford Park. Owls looking mighty strong.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Westminster with a dominant win over Guilford Park. Owls looking mighty strong.

Eagles went 2-0 against them this year do not forget

[Tomgruneberg]

Howard County Playoffs Week 3 Postmortem

And then there was one. Congratulations to Coach Bell and the Gladiators as they are the last man standing from Howard County. Glenelg moves to 8-4 on the season with a shutout victory on the road at Howard (8-4) 17-0

Our county champion Guilford Park (11-1) falls at home to a tough Westminster (10-1) squad 24-6. Guilford Park exceeded all expectations this season, going undefeated in the regular season plus 2 playoff wins. That team is still mainly juniors so the future is very bright in Jessup.

Mervo (10-1) rolls Marriotts Ridge (7-5) 52-0. Ridge can be proud of 2 nice playoff wins this year.

[glenn__davis]

Eagles went 2-0 against them this year do not forget

Eagles vs Owls will be an epic state final.

[glenn__davis]

Not HoCo related but kind of a crazy story in Carroll County football.

 

Liberty got smoked by Middletown, I believe it was 51-7.  Then Middletown self-reported that they had an ineligible player and were disqualified.  Liberty found out I believe on Tuesday of last week that they were back in the playoffs.  They played Hereford on Saturday and won in OT.   So they go from getting ready to turn in their jerseys to being in the state semifinals.

[Tomgruneberg]

Howard County Playoffs Week 4

 

I’m currently 68-17 on the year and my playoff picks have not been very accurate.  

 

Only 1 team remains standing from our league and that is the Glenelg Gladiators (8-4).  They face a Northern (8-4) squad out of Calvert County.  Both of these teams had some tough regular season losses but have played much better in the playoffs.  

 

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet.  I don’t think Glenelg will be able to stop the pass game of Northern.  I watched Atholton throw the ball on them at will.  Short passes, deep passes-whatever.  Yes , the Big Red run game will chew up plenty of clock, but it won’t be enough.  I’ve picked Glenelg to lose for the past 3 weeks.  Let’s make it 4–Northern by a score.  

[mdrunning]

Kind of weird, they have a very strong soccer team and I think their boys cross country team won states.  Apparently none of the good athletes there want to play football.

The boys won and the Centennial girls were second to Severna Park at 3A XC States. 

[Tomgruneberg]

Howard County Playoffs Week 4 postmortem 

 

The final Howard County team standing loses a close one in the state semis.  Glenelg (8-5) was in a tight game with Northern (9-4) for all 4 quarters.  Both teams made tons of mistakes and this was a one score game for all but a minute in the 4th quarter.  Final score 21-14.  Hats off to the Glads coaches and players for winning 3 playoff games.  

 

I finish my 2025 prognosticating journey at 69-17.  That’s an 80% or low B.  Playoff picks hurt me.  I was able to see ALL hoco teams play live this year.  Until 2026-thanks for reading.  

[Pedro Cerrano]

Eagles parade is set to leave the enchanted forest Safeway parking lot at 10 am next Saturday. Drinking is encouraged