Broadneck High School's Tony Baker (left) scored two touchdowns to lead the Bruins in a 31-13 win over visiting Meade on Friday.
Meade High School senior quarterback Ray Cotton rushed and threw for touchdowns in the Mustangs' defeat at Broadneck on Friday. (photos by Barry Miller)
by Blair MorseSpecial to DigitalSportsThe defense for the
Broadneck High School football team turned up the pressure Friday night, both on
Meade quarterback Raymond Cotton and his gifted group of receivers.
The result kept the Mustangs off the field and the Bruins’ ball-control offense on it during Broadneck's 31-14 victory in an
Anne Arundel County game.
The Bruins (6-3 overall, 6-3 in the county) will have to win next week at North County and hope for some help in order to finish amongst the top four spots in the competitive Class 4A East Region.
Derrick McGee victimized Cotton with two interceptions in the first half. The first was little more than a punt after Cotton went long down the left side of the field and McGee jumped in front of the receiver to make the catch in traffic.
Broadneck didn't get much off that turnover, with the game tied at 7-7, but McGee gave them a second, even better chance when he picked Cotton deep in Meade territory and returned the ball 27 yards to the five yard line. Tony Baker picked up the last five yards on the next play for the first of his two touchdowns in the game and a 14-7 Broadneck lead with 1:03 left in the first half.
"I think once I got it, it was the game. All we needed was one more score to put the lead to two touchdowns," McGee said. "We did our jobs well. Contain the quarterback and don’t let anyone behind us."
Said Broadneck coach Jeff Herrick: "We had two major defensive rules. One was to contain their quarterback and the second thing was to not let any receivers get deeper than our defensive backs.
"We tried to emphasize that in the game plan and we tried to get it in our kids’ head that those were two very important things that we needed to do tonight defensively. We did it for the most part."
The Bruins had opened the scoring after an ineffective Mustangs’ drive to start the game. Broadneck ate up 4:35 on the clock, driving 64 yards on 10 plays. Ron VanMeter capped the drive with a hard run in from five yards out. He was met by two tacklers at the two-yard line, absorbed the blow and pulled them with him for a 7-0 lead with 6:15 left in the first quarter.
Meade (3-6, 2-6) came right back on the next drive as Cotton ran around the right side for a 12-yard first-down run. He was hit out of bounds, tacking a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty onto the gain. Four plays later, Cotton took it himself again, up the middle for a 13-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
After trailing 14-7 at halftime, any comeback attempt Meade was going to make were quashed in the third quarter by Broadneck’s consistent ball-control offense. The Bruins held the ball for 9:54 of the first 13:23 in the second half. Colby Erickson made a 23-yard field goal with 3:54 left in the third quarter to extend the lead to 17-7.
On Meade’s next drive, it tried to fake a punt, but Mike Rindos – who dominated Meade on the line all night – stopped Cotton and Broadneck took over at the 50-yard line.
Nine plays later, quarterback Kyle Colleran hit BJ Mays over the middle. Mays was hit at the seven-yard line, but kept fighting for a 21-yard touchdown reception to run the score to 24-7.
Baker added a four-yard touchdown run with 5:37 left in the game to take a 31-7 lead.
Meade got one score back after a leaping 45-yard snag by Tuswani Copeland from Cotton. Cotton then found Copeland again in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown.
"This is the first time I know these kids feel bad about how they lost," Meade coach Lance Clelland said. "I’ve only been here three months. We’re going to get a lot better."
Meade (3-6) 7 0 0 6 - 13
Broadneck (6-3) 7 7 3 14 - 31
BN – Vanmeter 5 yd TD run (Erickson XP kick good)
ME- Cotton 13 yd TD run (Hawk XP kick good)
BN- Baker 5 yd TD run (Erickson XP kick good)
BN- Erickson 23-yd FG good
BN- Mays 21 yd TD pass from Colleran (Erickson XP kick good)
BN- Baker 4 yd TD run (Erickson XP kick good)
ME- Copeland 8 yd TD pass from Cotton (2 pt conv pass no good)
RUSHING: ME – Cotton 13-61; Brown 7-38; Copeland 3-4; Washington 1-0; BN – Baker 21-85; Colleran 14-47; Vanmeter 9-44; Mays 3-24; Treakle 3-22; Stump 1- -5
PASSING: ME – Cotton 4-22 76; BN- Colleran 8-16 126
RECEIVING: ME – Copeland 2-53; Darr. Brown 1-14; Turner 1-9; BN- Mays 3-89; Treakle 3-26; Byes 2-21