As the 2018 season drew to a close for North Point’s football at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last December, it may have seemed easy for some to envision the Eagles running roughshod over all in their path in 2019.
After coming out on the downside of a competitive Class 4A state championship game with Quince Orchard to close out the season a year ago, North Point was reclassed to 3A this year. And with quarterback Asa Williams and many from last year’s team back, surely the team would run through 2019 unbeaten and roll into the 3A state championship game.
Reality did not work that way. North Point lost Williams to injury before the season started, and instead of arriving at the regular season finale at Northern with a spotless record, the Eagles 6-2, having lost narrow decisions to Huntingtown and St. Charles. Friday night at Northern, the Eagles provided a glimpse of all they are still capable of, overcoming over 200 yards in penalties to defeat the Patriots 41-20 in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division game.
With their win as well as the other results from Friday night, North Point (7-2, 4-2 SMAC Potomac) will go into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the 3A South Region. The Eagles will host sixth-seeded Northeast, from Anne Arundel County, at home in their playoff opener at 7 p.m. Friday. But in the mind of North Point head coach Tom Petre, the postseason for his team started already.
“I think for us going into the game you want to make the statement to yourselves that you’re ready to play at this time of year,” he said. “This was a playoff game for us. ... We wanted to play this one like it was the first round of the playoffs and so be it if we see them again next week.”
Entering the game, there was a great chance North Point and Northern (5-4, 3-3) would play again in the first round of the playoffs. While that did not come to fruition, the Eagles’ early statement was one that likely was received by any potential opponents.
North Point rolled out to a 21-0 lead by the first play of the second quarter and never allowed the Patriots to pull any closer than 14 points for the game’s duration. Quarterback Tedros Gleaton connected with Kroy Myers once and Israel Parker twice for three first-half touchdown passes, then rushed for two in the second half to go along with another rushing touchdown from Michael Craig as the Eagles cruised to the victory.
North Point churned out roughly 500 yards worth of offense on Friday night, with both Craig and Corey Johnson surpassing 100 yards rushing. While they were also penalized for over 200 yards, Gleaton felt the team has been rising from its low points and is closing in on the form it needs to be in for the season’s second act.
“We started off low, but now we’re at the peak of our season. Hopefully we get on this hot streak and take it all the way,” he said. “We’re in the best shape out of the whole season. We started off real bad with all the injuries. Now we’re starting to get people back. Now I just feel we’re going to have a great postseason.”
After spotting their guests three touchdowns while they struggled to get anything positive established, Northern finally got on the board when Zach Crounse connected with Cody Howard on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 8 minute 49 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The score capped a 73-yard drive and provided the Patriots with some momentum, but that was all the hosts were able to muster in the first half.
Later, North Point increased its lead to 27-7 on Craig’s 10-yard touchdown jaunt midway through the third quarter. Northern responded with a quick scoring series, with Crounse hooking up with Mark Nicholson from 20 yards out to cut the gap to 27-13. But again, the Patriots were unable to ever close to within one possession. Instead, North Point responded with with nine-play drive that chewed up essentially the rest of the third quarter and culminated with Gleaton scoring on a 25-yard run to push the Eagles’ lead to 34-13.
Crounse connected with Nicholson for another touchdown in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 34-20 with 10:52 left to play, but Gleaton scored another touchdown on a 10-yard run to eliminate any drama that may have remained.
Crounse finished the game with 228 passing yards on a 21-for-34 night spreading the ball to six different receivers, but he was picked off four times. The Patriots also struggled to do much of anything on the ground, with leading rusher J.P. Gross barely averaging a yard per carry against the Eagles.
“Anytime you play North Point you can’t let them get momentum. It becomes an avalanche effect,” Northern head coach Steve Crounse said. “We were incapable of making plays early. They made some big plays. We’d play three good and one bad and it hurt us. We really can’t overcome the injuries we’ve had, not that that’s an excuse. They beat us off the ball and did a lot of good things, but we’re reeling right now and we have to figure it out by Monday.”
The Patriots, seeded fifth in the 3A South playoffs, will travel to fourth-seeded St. Charles in the opening week of the playoffs. Northern lost at St. Charles in a 27-22 nailbiter on Sept. 27. A year ago, the Patriots also lost to the Spartans in the regular season, but turned the tables in an overtime thriller in the postseason’s first week. The Patriots will be looking for the same when the teams hook up at 7 p.m. Friday.
“The kids kept fighting. It’s one week at a time now,” Crounse said. “We don’t want to put the pads away. We’re out there scratching and clawing and trying to get one more week together. ... We’ll show up and give it our best shot.”
For North Point, the postseason success craved is still very much within the team’s reach, regardless of the rollercoaster the regular season may have been.
“And that’s what it is still,” Petre said of the up-and-down nature of the regular season. “I think the offensive line played great tonight. The backs ran well. But then we still have something kind of looming there that you have to talk about. You have to talk about the penalties. But, overall, I think they’re in a good spot. We talked this week with the guys that we felt like we were in a better spot than in some other points in the year.”
Twitter: @cfhphilly
