North Point High School running back Michael Craig tries to find a running lane against the Patuxent defense during a 2021 contest. The Panthers host the Eagles on Oct. 28 this season.
Patuxent High School quarterback Peyton Murphy looks for an open receiver in the second half of last season’s game at North Point, won by the host Eagles 50-10.
North Point High School wide receiver Arnel Heathington heads toward the end zone to complete a 59-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ade Olanegan as the Eagles coasted to a 50-10 victory over Patuxent on Saturday morning.
North Point High School running back Michael Craig tries to find a running lane against the Patuxent defense during a 2021 contest. The Panthers host the Eagles on Oct. 28 this season.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Patuxent High School quarterback Peyton Murphy looks for an open receiver in the second half of last season’s game at North Point, won by the host Eagles 50-10.
Staff photo by Ted Black
North Point High School wide receiver Arnel Heathington heads toward the end zone to complete a 59-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ade Olanegan as the Eagles coasted to a 50-10 victory over Patuxent on Saturday morning.
In a contest between two teams that had developed along similar lines throughout the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference regular season slate, the North Point High School football team overcame a slow start to cruise past visiting Patuxent High School 50-10 on Saturday morning in the season finale for both teams.
North Point (5-3), which did not participate in a fall or spring season during the 2019-2020 school year due to the coronavirus pandemic, had several hiccups early in the season that included setbacks to Great Mills and Leonardtown before a victory over Huntingtown. And, they watched the visiting Panthers score first on Saturday morning. But the Eagles then responded by scoring the next 43 points, invoking the running clock with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Patuxent (3-6), which opened the season with a lop-sided setback at Northern, had shown glimpses of promise throughout the slate for first-year coach Ricky Mason. Sandwiched in between booked setbacks to perennial powers, the Panthers defeated Westlake 35-0, McDonough 46-20 and Thomas Stone 30-24 and only suffered a modest 7-0 defeat to Huntingtown.
“Me and their coach were talking about our seasons before the game,” said North Point coach Tom Petrie, whose team will host Leonardtown on Friday, Nov. 5. “We have both had some really good games and then other games when we really did not play well. I definitely thought we played well today. Our offensive line is really gelling together and defensively we’re not giving up as many big plays.”
North Point did not yield any big plays on Saturday, but the Eagles connected on several of them. Less than two minutes into the second quarter with the hosts owning a 12-3 advantage, quarterback Ade Olanegan connected with wide receiver Arnel Heathington on a 59-yard scoring strike and senior kicker Cyrus Ungerer added the extra point for a 19-3 lead.
On the Eagles’ next possession, Ungerer connected on a 26-yard field goal to push the advantage to 22-3 then on the last play of the first half the hosts capped a 75-yard drive with a seven-yard scoring scamper by Olanegan. Earlier on the drive, Olanegan connected with two different receivers on long passes and finally the Eagles’ signal caller capped the drive on a keeper.
Already boasting a comfortable advantage at the intermission, North Point ended any drama midway through the third quarter. Senior running back Michael Craig scored on a 45-yard run to push the margin to 36-3 then three plays later the Eagles’ defense delivered when Heathington intercepted a Peyton Murphy pass and returned it 45 yards for another score that pushed the advantage to 43-3.
After yielded 43 unanswered points, Patuxent finally countered when Murphy connected with Caleb Davilla on a 32-yard strike with four minutes remaining. But North Point wasted little time responding as the Eagles went 53 yards in just five plays, all on the ground, and capped the scoring when junior Tyrone Hudson found the end zone from 10 yards out.
“We’ve actually come a long way since the first week,” Mason said. “We lost three starters in the first quarter to injuries, but we never gave up. Our guys played hard the whole game. North Point just played much better than we did today. A lot of our guys are young. Peyton and Caleb are going to be heard from again the next two years.”
