Earlier this month, two Montgomery County teams, the Quince Orchard Cougars and the Damascus Hornets, secured the Maryland football championship in 4A and 3A, respectively. It wasn’t too hard to see it coming either. Both sides were favorites to play in Annapolis when the season began, and they upheld their reputations, winning effectively every Friday night, and carried it into December, taking care of business on the biggest stage.
Those may be the only similarities that the two teams shared. Quince Orchard began the season looking to go back to back, coming off another state title in 2021. QO dominated for most of the season, with a high flying offense that was capable of putting up points at will, and a stifling defense that didn’t allow a single point until October. By then, the team had won their first five games and looked set to cruise to the playoffs.
Still, the Cougars kept the foot on the gas, and when the playoffs did come, they came out firing on all cylinders. They beat Clarksburg 56-0 in the first round of the playoffs, the second time Quince Orchard beat Clarksburg in as many weeks. The next round saw them take on Northwest, who had been caught up in controversy and suspended earlier in the season. Northwest had bounced QO from the playoffs in years past, though, and had bounced back from the distractions that caused their season to dip. Still, in this year’s playoff game, they seemed to still be a step behind the Cougars. Quince Orchard took a 14-6 halftime lead, expanded the lead to 24-6 in the third quarter, and survived a fourth quarter rally from Northwest to advance to the quarterfinals, 24-14. From there, the Cougars took a comfortable 21-6 win against an upstart Old Mill squad, and punched their ticket into the title game the next week against fellow 4A powerhouse Broadneck, cruising to a 42-9 win.
They faced Flowers High School in the state championship at Navy Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Thu Dec 1. Both teams were undefeated going into the game, with Flowers scraping by with some impressive victories of their own. It was extremely tight for the good majority of the game. A late drive by Quince Orchard led to a field goal to end the half, which put the Cougars up 10-7, but all was still to play for in the second half. However, Quince Orchard followed a scoreless third quarter up with a 22-point final frame, which included their defense generating nine points on a fumble returned for a touchdown and a safety in a two minute window. After that, the game was played with the Cougars effectively holding one hand on the trophy, finishing with a final score of 32-7 and lifting Quince Orchard to back-to-back 4A state championships.
Damascus’ reputation as an elite football school had been put into question after a few shaky campaigns in 3A during their last couple of seasons. The Hornets went 6-3 in the regular season and were sent home early in the state playoffs in 2021, but an impressive win over Northwest in the season opener hushed many of the concerns that lingered in the preseason. Following that, the Hornets took flight, winning all but one game (against the aforementioned QO), and looking untouchable in most of them. In the playoffs, a similar story emerged. Damascus put up impressive totals on their end of the scoreboard, while stifling their opponents on defense. In the state championship game against Oakdale, Damascus put up 21 straight points to open the game, thanks in part to senior Dillon Dunathan, who ended the night with 2 touchdowns and 228 rushing yards. The defense bent late, allowing two touchdowns in the home stretch of the game but never broke, and the Hornets found themselves back on the 3A mountaintop, winning 21-14 and hoisting their 12th state football championship, their first since 2019.
Written by Alex Sheesley of Magruder High School
Photo courtesy of Flickr