All-Baltimore Teams Produce Aplenty

By: Keith Mills

"Football is alive and well in the Baltimore metropolitan area," said St. Paul's head football coach Dave Dolch. That statement was illustrated last weekend as both St. Paul's and Mount Hebron hosted 7-on-7 passing tournaments.

"It's a great opportunity to keep your team together and develop that cohesion and chemistry," Ross Hannon said. "Football is different than any other sport in that it begins before school starts. This gives you an opportunity to safely condition your kids so when they show up on Aug. 15 and it's 100 degrees, they'll be in better condition."

Ross Hannon is the new coach at Mount Hebron, which hosted an 11-team passing tournament Saturday morning in Ellicott City. Mt. Hebron, Long Reach, Atholton, Oakland Mills, Arundel, Franklin, Milford Mill and Friendly were joined by three teams from western Pennsylvania -- Kiski Area, Central Catholic and Gateway.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for our kids to see western Pennsylvania football," Hannon said. "It's rich in tradition with great coaching and great players."

At the same time this past Saturday, 16 more teams gathered at St. Paul's for the third Baltimore Touchdown Club 7-on-7 Jamboree and Big Man Camp, which featured 125 of the best linemen in the area and more than 300 quarterbacks, running backs and receivers.

Players don't wear helmets, shoulder pads or any other type of football equipment in 7-on-7 football, though these type of events have become a staple of local high school scene over the last few summers.

"These are becoming more and more popular," said Dolch, who was an outstanding baseball and football player at Northeast High in the early 1970s. "The two most important fundamentals of football aren't included in this -- blocking and tackling -- but it's a real opportunity to execute the offense, run routes and get your timing down. Plus, they're able to cover guys, which is a big part of playing defense."

At St. Paul's, the 16 teams were divided into four regions and guaranteed four games. The anticipated 7-on-7 matchup between River Hill and Dunbar did not happen because the Poets qualified for a passing tournament in Hoover, Ala.

Despite the absence of the Poets, the list of players at St. Paul's was impressive: quarterback Grant Enders of Old Mill, Michael Campanaro and Leron Eaddy of River Hill, Renard Robinson of Mount St. Joseph, Nick Whittles of Archbishop Spalding, Courtney Bridget of Calvert Hall, Austin Crabill of St. Paul's and Anthony Jackson of Severna Park.

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The state's new rule allowing public school coaches the chance to work with their teams in the offseason on a limited basis has been met with a collective "thank you" from coaches throughout the area who are using the time this summer to instill much of their passing game.

"It's invaluable for us," said Pete Hughes, who is beginning his 13th year at Long Reach High in Columbia. "We will be able to save a week's time when practice begins in August. We are able to put in our passing offense, and we're able to monitor the kids a lot more."

Hughes also got a chance to look at Tim Stoan and Dajon Modeste, who are vying for the starting quarterback job at Long Reach, and junior Javaughn Walker was impressive both catching passes and picking them off.

"You can really find out a lot about your kids in these things, especially your young kids," Hughes said. "This a great test for them.

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Reggie White played for a San Diego Chargers team that beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1994 AFC championship game and has been coaching area high school football for 10 years. Yet there he was early Saturday morning in the 90-degree heat at Mount Hebron stalking the sidelines like he did in Super Bowl XXIX when the Chargers played the San Francisco 49ers in Miami.

"We're finally allowed to be out here," said White, who graduated from Milford Mill in 1987 after helping the Millers win the Class C state championship and is beginning his sixth year at his alma mater. "The competition is what it's all about. We're happy to be playing against some real good teams."

Quarterback Kevin Fulton was impressive for the Millers as was Kalvin Seamonson of Atholton High in Columbia, who went 17-3 the last two years on the Raiders' junior varsity team. Kalvin is the son of Al Seamonson, the outside linebackers coach under Ralph Friedgen at the University of Maryland. He is not, however, the lone son of a Maryland coach who played in last Saturday's tournament at Mount Hebron.

Billy Cosh is the son of Terrapins defensive coordinator Chris Cosh, and he is expected to be the starting quarterback this fall for Arundel, last year's Class 4A state runner-up.

"Billy threw for 2,000 yards as a freshman on the JV team," said assistant coach Dave Doy, who coached the Wildcats in the absence of head coach Chuck Markiewicz. Cosh will compete for the starting quarterback job with junior P.J. Doyle, while Alec Lemon returns for his senior year after catching 70 passes and 13 touchdowns in the Wildcats' 13-1 season last year.

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"This is part of the culture," Harvey Smith said. "You get thrown into the fire quick. That's just the way it is."

Smith is the new coach at Kiski Area High School in Pittsburgh. For the last nine years, he was the offensive coordinator at Gateway High and the brother of Gators coach Terry Smith.

Gateway, located 15 miles outside Pittsburgh, is a western Pennsylvania powerhouse and one of the premier programs in the country. Since Terry Smith took over in 2002, the Gators are 53-18 with 44 graduates now playing college football. Last year Gateway was the state runner-up after winning the title in 2004.

Two Gateway rising seniors who played in last Saturday's tournament at Mount Hebron are going to Ohio State -- 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker Dorian Bell and 6-foot, 180-pound wide receiver/defensive back Corey Brown.

"They are just loaded with talent," Harvey Smith said. "In fact, sometimes I second guess myself for leaving, but it's time for me. I'm taking over a new program, and my kids haven't had this kind of exposure. I want to show them a higher level of football.

"Now Terry knows there's some stiff competition down here. He also wants to see some of his younger guys. This gets them some much needed reps."

The same can be said for Central Catholic High of Pittsburgh, the third Pennsylvania team in the tournament and the alma mater of NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino.

"Any time you get a Gateway here or a Central Catholic or a Terry or Harvey Smith, it's a fantastic opportunity for our kids to see how they stack up," Hannon said. "We're going to welcome it here and embrace it."

"Hopefully, we'll make this an annual thing," Harvey Smith said, "and get some Baltimore area teams to come up to our tournaments."

And the Touchdown Club of Baltimore is looking to continue what has become a wildly successful day of high school football. Tournament organizers Doug DuVall of Wilde Lake, Dolch and Scott Ripley of Cardinal Gibbons added a clinic for many of the area's premier linemen to the 7-on-7 passing tournament and included former area alumni Dane Randolphe, now at Maryland, and Sean Frederick.

"Dane and Sean both talked to our kids about academics and what it takes to make it academically at the next level," Dolch said. "The public school coaches were able to be here."

Issue 3.29: July 17, 2008