Of the four Southern Maryland Athletic Conference teams in action last Friday night, only one advanced to play for a region title. Thomas Stone and North Point were both upset at home, and Calvert dropped a heartbreaker to Patuxent. Patuxent moves on to represent the conference in the 2A South region final for the third straight year, this time against Gwynn Park. Gwynn Park ended Thomas Stone’s season just a week ago. Gwynn Park shut down the Stone option offense, and utilized the quarterback run to come back and beat the Cougars. They will look to use the same game plan on the Panthers’ defense this week. The last time these two schools met, the stakes were the same. A region title was on the line, and both schools were undefeated. In that 2013 matchup, Patuxent prevailed 35-28. Gwynn Park will look to even the series with a win.
They will be led into battle by senior quarterback/defensive end Aaron Parker, who against Stone had 107 yards on 17 carries. He also threw for a 32-yard score after sidestepping a linebacker in the pocket. Parker heads an offense that averages just over 23 points a game. On the opposite side of the ball, the long hair of Mikey Donaldson will be looking back across. Donaldson is the Panthers leading tackler. He has totaled 101 on the season and had 11 last week alone. He will look to guide the Panthers defense to a region championship.
On the opposite side of the ball, Patuxent’s offense will have Jaelen Gross at quarterback. Gross will look to engineer the Panthers into their second region title in three years. He will have to contend with a decent Gwynn Park defensive front, again led by Parker. Parker is a stand-up linebacker in the Yellow Jackets’ 3-4 defense.
This game should be a slug-fest, and it could come down which team can stop the other. If you need a good football fix, be sure to come down to this one. The game will be at Patuxent High School, 12485 Southern Connector Boulevard, Lusby.
If you are unable to make it to the match, but would still like to know what’s going on, follow us on Twitter @TheBayNetSports for tweeting live updates from the sidelines.