S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9 . T H E W A S H I N G T O N P O S T EZ SU D9
BY DANIEL JONESDeMatha’s dominant 17-0 vic-
tory over Friendship Collegiate
on Friday night at Catholic Uni-
versity was the second-ranked
Stags’ fourth straight shutout and
their first triumph this season
over another team in The Wash-
ington Post’s Top 20.
Those feats ended up being
mere footnotes because Friday’s
victory was for “J.B.”
Friday was the first anniversa-
ry of the death of Marquis Jaylen
Brown, a redshirt sophomore at
Duquesne and former DeMatha
starting linebacker. Brown died
after falling 16 stories from a
college dorm in Pittsburgh, and
Thursday would have been his
22nd birthday.
Brown was honored with a
moment of silence before the
game. After the win, the game ball
went to Melinda Simms, a friend
of the family who accepted the
gift for Brown’s mother, Dann-
ielle.
“Losing a child, regardless of
how old or how young he or she is,
it is something that you will nev-
er, ever accept,” Simms said.
“... It was a great honor to receive
the text message to have me and
my son accept the ball in her
absence.”Brown played for DeMatha
from 2012 to 2015, meaning he
was present for the first three
Washington Catholic Athletic
Conference titles in the Stags’
four-peat from 2013 to 2016. For
Terrance Davis, an offensive line-
man at Maryland who played
with Brown at DeMatha, holding
up the WCAC trophy was his
enduring memory of his friend.
“Jaylen was probably one of the
funniest guys on the team,” said
Davis, who attended Friday’s con-
test and spoke to the DeMatha
squad after the game. “He worked
really hard. He was one of the best
linebackers I ever had a chance to
play with. He was a winner. He
loved the team. He was one of our
brothers, and I’m really sad to seehim go.”
DeMatha (5-1) exited the locker
room stoically Friday evening,
walking double-file onto the field
in relative silence.
Its offense mimicked the quiet
start, turning the ball over with a
fumble on its second play.
The Stags’ second drive, in con-
trast, was a 10-play march that
ended with a 36-yard touchdown
pass from Malakai Anthony to
Kam’Ryn Thomas.
The second quarter started
with Anthony throwing a screen
pass to running back MarShawn
Lloyd on third and six. The South
Carolina commit gashed the
Friendship defense, breaking
through three tackles for a 51-
yard touchdown.No. 13 Friendship (3-3) never
crossed the DeMatha 30-yard
line. The Knights fell to No. 4
Good Counsel last week and to
Pennsylvania powerhouse North
Allegheny in Week 1.
The Knights were forced to
play the majority of the game
without punter/kicker/wide re-
ceiver Brandon Chase, who was
leveled in the second quarter
while trying to pick up a first
down on a broken punt play.
Chase remained motionless on
the ground for a few moments
before he was helped off the field.
Friendship Coach Mike Hunter
said Chase was coherent on the
sideline but was taken to the
hospital as a precaution.
[email protected]NONLEAGUE FOOTBALL
Stags dedicate fourth straight shutout to ex-linebacker Brown
DEMATHA 17,
FRIENDSHIP COLL. 0BY TRAMEL RAGGSFor a team with legitimate state
title aspirations in training camp,
the start of the season for C.H.
Flowers brought only chaos.
Coach Dameon Powell was sus-
pended for the season last month
for holding an illegal practice that
resulted in the hospitalization of
one of the Jaguars’ players.
Three of Powell’s assistants
were placed under review, and the
uncertainty had a trickle-down ef-
fect to the players. The Jaguars
dropped two games and were in
need of a win Friday night to
regain some stability. It came with
a 16-0 victory at Bowie.
“Initially, we had a lot of distrac-
tions that made it difficult to focus
on just football-specific things or
create any type of type of continu-ity, which affected our players,”
said Fred Groves, the Jaguars’ in-
terim coach. “For the first few
weeks, we had a revolving door
with our coaching staff. Different
guys would be suspended and re-
instated as the investigation went
on. There were times when the
guys didn’t know what time prac-
tice was or who’d be there when
they got there.”
The uncertainty caused a rift
within the team.
“After the news of Coach Pow-ell’s suspension, the team’s focus
seemed to shift from team success
to individual success,” Groves said.
“Guys were coming into things
with the mind-set that they need to
just focus on getting film and se-
curing offers because a state cham-
pionship wasn’t on the table.”
With his full staff of assistant
coaches reinstated, Groves chal-
lenged the Jaguars to come to-
gether as a family and play for the
suspended Powell.
“This is supposed to be a fam-ily,” Groves said. “Coach is down
right now, but we can’t desert him.
We need to pick him up by going
out and getting these wins.”
The Jaguars (3-2) took a big step
toward that end by shutting down
a high-octane Bowie offense that
came in averaging 30.5 points.
With the defense holding the
Bulldogs (3-2) scoreless, the Jag-
uars’ offense turned to workhorse
running back Tristan Shannon to
grind down Bowie’s defense.
Shannon finished with144 yards rushing, highlighted by
a 50-yard touchdown run with
nine minutes remaining to seal
the victory.
“For the offense to step up when
we needed it and then the defense
to come out and just do what it does
— shut people out — was huge,”
safety LaTreil Wimberly said. “With
pretty much everyone back, we
needed to come together and make
a statement, and I think that beat-
ing a good team, 16-0, did just that.”
[email protected]PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY 4A FOOTBALL
Reeling Jaguars gain a bit of stability with a road victory over the Bulldogs
C.H. FLOWERS 16,
BOWIE 0ASSOCIATED PRESSLas Vegas resident Kevin Na
had two back-nine eagles and
shot a 9-under-par 62 on Friday
for a share of the second-round
lead in the Shriners Hospitals for
Children Open in his hometown
event.
Playing alongside Phil Mickel-
son at TPC Summerlin, Na eagled
the par-5 13th and 16th holes and
added birdies on the par-3 17th
and par-4 18th to match Lucas
Glover, 2017 winner Patrick Cant-
lay and Brian Stuard at 12-under
130.
“My putter was hot,” Na said. “I
started with a 60-footer on the
first hole, and I just kept making
putts today.”
Na won the 2011 tournament
for the first of his three tour titles.
He made four long putts on the
back nine Friday, holing out from
43 and 35 feet for the eagles and
23 and 22 feet on the closing
birdies.
Glover shot a 63, also making
an eagle on the 15th.
Cantlay eagled the par-4 15th,
driving the green and holing a
45-footer, in a 64.
“Hit it really well,” Cantlay
said. “Hit a lot of tee balls in play
and far down there, which leaves
you a lot of wedges.... That’s
what it takes to play well here. If I
keep driving it well, should have
a lot of opportunities.”
Stuard shot a 65.
“Just feeling comfortable with
my game,” Stuard said. “I wanted
to get off to a good start this fall,
and I feel like I’ve done that.”
Matt Jones was a stroke back
after a 63.
First-round leader Nick Taylor
followed his opening 63 with a 69
to top the group at 10 under.
Mickelson was at 8 under,
following an opening 65 with a
69.
“I didn’t score great. I didn’t
have a very good putting day,”
Mickelson said. “I missed five or
six putts that I should have made,
and it took away from what could
have been a really good round on
the back nine.
“Should have been 5-, 6-under
par pretty easily, and I just strug-
gled with the putter on the
greens.”
He missed the cut last week at
the Safeway Open in his season
debut.
l LPGA TOUR: Alena Sharp
shot a 6-under 65 for a share of
the second-round lead with Brit-
tany Altomare and Cheyenne
Knight in the LPGA Tour’s Volun-
teers of America Classic.
Sharp closed with a bogey on
the par-4 18th to drop into the tie
for the lead at 9-under 133 at Old
American Golf Club in The Colo-
ny, Tex. Altomare had a 66, and
Knight shot a 67. The three
leaders are winless on the LPGA
Tour.
Knight was a two-time state
high school champion at Aledo,
just west of Fort Worth.
First-round leader Stephanie
Meadow was at 8 under, follow-
ing her opening 63 with a 71.
Jaye Marie Green and Kather-
ine Perry each shot a 68 to reach
7 under.
l EUROPEAN TOUR: Adri
Arnaus and Rafa Cabrera Bello
took a one-shot lead at the Span-
ish Open as Spaniards finished
the second round in the top four
spots on the leader board in
Madrid.
Samuel del Val was third, fol-
lowed by defending champion
Jon Rahm, another stroke be-
hind.
Arnaus, who is playing his first
season on the European Tour, hit
one eagle and five birdies to go
with one bogey and carded a
5-under 66 on the day to tie
Cabrera Bello at 11 under.
Cabrera Bello made six birdies
and has not produced a bogey
over 36 holes of the event at Club
de Campo Villa de Madrid.GOLF ROUNDUPVegas’s Na
has share
of lead in
hometown
BY KYLE MELNICKKicker Chris Retzbach often
stands on Glenelg’s field alone
during practices, imagining there
are 10 seconds remaining, and it’s
up to him to make a game-win-
ning field goal. The senior made a
game-winning field goal two
years ago, and he knew he could
be called upon again before his
high school career ended.
On Friday night, that time
came. With two seconds remain-
ing and Glenelg tied with How-
ard, Retzbach drilled a 26-yard
field goal, splitting the uprights
as time expired to lift the Gladia-
tors to a 10-7 home win.
“I wasn’t feeling any pressure
really,” Retzbach said. “I was
confident in myself I could make
the kick.”
Howard (1-4, 1-1 Howard Coun-
ty) was driving in the final min-
utes when Glenelg linebacker
Drew Sotka stepped in front of a
Lions pass for an interception to
set up Retzbach.
Glenelg (3-2, 2-0) moved the
ball to the 14-yard line while
running the clock down as Retz-
bach practiced kicking on the
sideline. Howard called two time-
outs to ice Retzbach, to no avail.After Retzbach connected, his
teammates mobbed him near the
20-yard line.
Moments later, Retzbach was
awarded a plaque as Glenelg’s
MVP for the game. He tried towalk back to the team huddle
without drawing attention, but
his teammates wouldn’t let him.
“Hold it up,” they screamed as
Retzbach raised the plaque with
his right arm.“He constantly is working on
his kicks and stuff,” Sotka said.
“It’s awesome. I’m happy to see
him [make a game-winner]
again.”
Friday’s game featured a pair of
perennial Howard County pow-
ers. Howard won four consecu-
tive Howard County and Mary-
land 4A North titles between 2014
and 2017. Glenelg went undefeat-
ed in last year’s regular season
before making its first state
championship appearance.
Without last year’s star, run-
ning back Wande Owens, Glenelg
is rotating running backs based
on their skill sets, trying to keep
defenses off-balance. That strat-
egy helped the Gladiators score
in the third quarter on running
back Kyle Dry’s 15-yard run.
Glenelg surrendered fourth-
quarter leads in losses the past
two weeks, and Howard tied the
game with about eight minutes
remaining Friday. During prac-
tice this week, the Gladiators
practiced four-minute drills and
late-game defensive situations.
That training paid off.
“I knew we had the intensity
and stuff to grind out these
games,” Sotka said. “I knew we’d
be able to finish, whether it was
in overtime or regulation. I just
had faith in my boys.”
[email protected]HOWARD COUNTY FOOTBALL
Gladiators get a kick out of last-second victory
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POSTChris Retzbach, center, is mobbed by teammates after booting a 26-yard field goal to lift Glenelg to a Friday night win at home. “I wasn’t feeling any pressure really,” he said.
GLENELG 10,
HOWARD 7Senior delivers winning
field goal as time expiresJONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Glenelg receiver Cooper Sancomb jukes a Howard defender as he makes a fourth-quarter run.