CLASS 2A FINAL: DOWN, 7-0, RIVER HILL WINS, 14-7, OVER EASTERN TECH

 by Lem Satterfield
and Derek Toney.


 At halftime of Saturday afternoon's Class 2A state title game against Eastern Tech, River Hill junior quarterback Luke Hostetler  and his Hawks found themselves in a situation that was all too unfamiliar.

Trailing by seven points, and experiencing their first deficit of the season.

"We were down at the half, the locker room wasn't really fired up at all. Heads down, nobody was talking. We were stunned. We had never been down before, and we were not looking too good," said Hostetler, who, as a high school player, was in danger of suffering his first career loss in 34 games, dating back to consecutive 20-0 seasons as the junior varsity starter.

"But right before we went back out onto the field, we all started to get pumped up. Somebody said, 'we're not going to lose, we're only down by a touchdown,' and then, everybody started to yell and scream, and we got on a roll from there."

At 9:11 of the third quarter, Hostetler connected on what amount to being a momentum-changing, play, completing his 14th scoring pass of the year for 69-yard to Malik Redd to make it 7-7, and, later, watching Redd's 6-yard scoring run -- for his 22nd touchdown of the year -- with 3:51 left to play in a come-from-behind, 14-7 victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

"I dropped back, saw one safety on him, and he kind of bit a little bit to the other side," said Hostetler, who is 34-0 as a high school player after watching consecutive extra point kicks by Carlos Griffin-Benitez follow each of Redd's scores.

"Right before we got up to the line, I told Luke that I was going to be open, and he kind of gave me a nodd, saying he was going to get me the ball," said Redd, who has scored two touchdowns in each of the Hawks' four playoff games, including wins over McDonough, Patuxent and Elkton -- all by shutout.

"Once I got the ball in my hands, all that I saw was the endzone," said Redd. "Nobody was going to catch me after that."

The Mavericks had one final opportunity to tie the game as quarterback Travis Crane, starting at his own 48 with 2:17 to play, took Eastern Tech deep into the Hawks' defensive end.

But with two seconds left, Crane, after a long scramble, only found Derryck Davis, who was brought down at the River Hill 15-yard line by Alex Turner as time ran out.

"They shocked us a little bit, even though we knew they were a physical team," said junior linebacker Leron Eaddy, who disrupted a pass inside his own 20-yard line during the Maverick's final drive. "They came out and played hard and made us a little nervous, but the coaches prepared us for the second half, just like they have all year."

Senior linebackers Zach Martin, Andrew Donoghue and Jonathan Hill had, 14, 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, and senior linebacker Alex Turner had a sack as part of a defense that has anchored the Hawks (14-0) to a state record-tying 11 shutouts on the year, and which has not allowed a passing touchdown.

"We made some adjustments. They were hurting us inside, getting some push on our defensive line. They were moving the ball, so you've got to give them credit. Nobody's been able to push us around like that," said River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen, who is 75-18 in eight seasons. "We have only given up two touchdowns, and our first-team had only given up one touchdown all year. So Coach [Todd] Martin was able to take the inside run away and make them do something different."

The Mavericks (13-1), who set a school-record for wins in a season to reach their first state title game since being Class 3A state runners-up in 1998, were led, defensively, by Bryan Watson (11 tackles), Ryan Schlothauer (seven tackles, one fumble recovery), Derryck Davis and quarterback-defensive back Travis Crane.

Together, they limited Redd, Campanaro (64 yards rushing) and Martin, who have scored 22, 30 and 17 touchdowns this season, to a combined 41 rushing yards in the first half, and, a season-low 116 for the game.

Early on, however, Crane ran for an 8-yard touchdown that was followed by Dave Spalt's extra point kick to end the Mavericks' game-opening, 13-play, 87-yard drive, giving the Mavericks a 7-0 lead at 3:24 of the first quarter.

"I knew they were a good team coming in, and I thought that if we could score first, they would crumble. I definitely felt real good going in after scoring the touchdown," Crane said of a drive that was keyed by Thomas Edwards' 32-yard run on third-and-7 from his own 16.

"But you have to give a lot of credit to them," said Crane, who has thrown 13 scoring passes and run for 11. "They definitely came back strong, stopped us late in the second quarter and came out real strong in the second half."

Eastern Tech of Baltimore County entered the game having out-scored its opponents by a combined, 490-50, with five shutouts, while River Hill of Howard County entered the game with a 537-14 scoring advantage.

"We just had to keep our cool, which has been our thing all season. We came out after some second half adjustments and shut down their first drive of the second half, which was one of the biggest series' of the game," said Martin, who, after going 13-1 and finishing as Class 3A state runners-up last season, said "anything less than a victory tonight would have been considered a failure."

"We got caught in some small mistakes, two small ones that hurt us. But you certainly can't not be proud of these kids," said fifth-year coach Marc Mesaros, who is 49-12 in five seasons coaching the Mavericks, and whose team had out-scored its previous three rivals by a combined, 123-12, with three shutouts.

Included in the Mavericks' run was a 27-0 victory over last year's Class 2A state champion, Edmondson, of Baltimore City, and last week's 35-0 rout of Clarksburg of Montgomery County, which entered the game at 12-0.

"I've been with these guys a long time, and they put their heart and soul into everything that they do," Mesaros said. "If you're going to go out, you go out swinging. And I thought that's what our kids were able to do. "

With the game tied at 7-7, the Mavericks made two critical stops during a third-quarter goal line stand against the Hawks.

On third-and-goal at the Mavericks' 3-yard line early in the fourth quarter, Crane made a shoestring tackle on Hostetler to drop him for no gain. On fourth down, Watson batted down Hostetler's pass attempt at the line of scrimmage.

But after Spalt, punting from his own endzone, got off only a 10 yarder, River Hill took over from the Eastern Tech 19-yard line, setting up Redd's second touchdown to put the Hawks ahead for good.

"First half, we weren't holding our blocks long enough. We were getting to our blocks, getting to our man and then they were just sliding off and making the tackles," said Ryan Bounds, the lone returning offensive lineman from last year's squad. "Going into halftime, I told all of our guys that we had to maintain our blocks, stay on them and let the ballcarrier get by us. We did that in the second half, drove the ball a few times, and did what we needed to do. I'm proud of how they came together."

Campanaro, Eaddy, Griffin, Hostetler, Redd, offensive linemen Sean Hull and Patrick McCleaf as well as placekickers Carlos Griffin-Benitez and Scott Trench will all return as seniors next season, as will offensive lineman Max Coale, as a junior.

"In the locker room, it might have been a different atmosphere than we ever had before, but our coaches basically told us that it was a gut-check for us, and all of us stepped up," Hull said. "But I have to give it up to our captains. They stepped up and broke it down, what needed to be done. When they did that, we changed."

Class 2A Final

River Hill 14, Eastern Tech 7


Eastern Tech              7                 0                0                    0                    7              
River Hill                    0                 0                7                    7                    14

E- Crane 8 run (Spalt kick)
R- Redd 69 pass from Hostetler (Griffin-Benitez kick)
R- Redd 6 run (Griffin-Benitez kick)