Catch up with news and notes from around the local preps football scene.

Meade High School in Odenton has a new starting quarterback. Raymond Cotton Jr. moved into the area two months ago from Mobile, Ala., with an imposing reputation and an impressive resume.

Art Modell Field at Mervo was dedicated last week, triggering memories of a promise Modell made to the city when he moved his Browns in November 1995.

Something was clearly missing at both Arundel and Forest Park High Schools this week. For the first time since Richard Nixon was president, Bernie Walter and Obie Barnes Sr. were not there.

As Michael Phelps stood on the victory stand in Beijing, Cal Ripken Jr. and Juan Dixon came to mind -- homegrown high school athletes who reached the pinnacles of their sports.

Last weekend in Johnstown, Pa., the 16-19 age-group powerhouse Orioles won their 26th All American Amateur Baseball Association tournament and their sixth in a row.

Blake Thompson has just begun his final summer football training camp as the starting quarterback of the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders, but it was a trip to Israel last month that he says has changed his life.

Numerous baseball showcases highlight top players as high school and college baseball's versions of the Five-Star Basketball Camp and the Top 205 Lacrosse Camp.

The Baltimore Casa Mia Bays Under-15 soccer team won the U.S. Youth Soccer championship last weekend, beating Solar Red of Texas, 2-1.