The Patuxent High Football Team celebrates the 2015 Maryland 2A Football Championship at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Photo courtesy of Calvert County Board of Education Member Jim Piatt.
Baltimore, MD – Greg Leonard recalled two years ago when he stood with his back to the wall separating the visiting and Ravens press rooms, listening to Middletown celebrate another state title win. He vowed that day, that before his high school career was over, he would be on the other side of that wall, celebrating a state championship win. It took a little longer than expected, but after his 6 catch, 111 yard and 1 touchdown performance, he aided the Patuxent Panthers to their first ever state title in football.
For the entire team, their playoff fate wasn’t even a sure thing as they travelled to Westlake to play for a playoff berth. They won that game, and after 4 hard fought playoff games, they won the state title.
To start the game, Patuxent deferred and elected to kick off the ball to a potent Walkersville offense. Walkersville ran seven plays on their opening possession, all of them runs, and gashed the middle of the Patuxent line. They found pay-dirt by way of Chad Gleason running in from 5 yards. The ensuing extra point was good, and Walkersville held a 7-0 lead a little under 3 minutes into the game.
Patuxent was driving down the field on their first possession, led by Jaelen Gross, until a pitch was mishandled by Chris Long, and put on the ground. The ball jumped up into the arms of a Walkersville defender on the Lions’ 28 yard line. The Panthers defense hardened up after giving up two first downs, and forced a punt. A perfect Walkersville punt dropped the ball inside the 10, but the Walkersville gunners let the ball bounce into the end zone resulting in a touchback.
The Panthers put together a drive again, aided by two deep bombs to Greg Leonard. However, their drive stalled when Gross overthrew Jared Massengill on a 4th and 9. Patuxent’s defense then forced a three and out. On the punt, Chris Long rushed hard on the right side of the line, and got a hand on the ball. The Panthers recovered the ball in the Lions’ territory. However, on the first play after the block, Gross attempted to scramble for a few yards, but he fumbled and Walkersville recovered. Patuxent forced a punt aided by Devin ‘Meatball’ Lambert’s sack on 3rd and 5. Patuxent was forced to punt after the ensuing punt. On the play after they punted, the Lions attempted to pass, and the out route was jumped by Tyler Gross, and he came away with the pick. Tyler Gross has had 4 picks in the previous 5 games. Patuxent just ran the clock out to end the half. At the half, it was 7-0 Walkersville.
On the first possession of the half, Reese Crounse ran out with the offense. He led a power running game, but cashed in with a 27 yard pass to Greg Leonard down the right sideline. This tied the game at 7 with 8:53 left in the third. Walkersville answered with a 15 yard touchdown run by Chad Gleason. This put them up 14-7 with 5:24 left in the third. Patuxent turned it over on downs on their own 40 on their ensuing possession. Walkersville forced them to pay when Gleason scored his third touchdown of the game, this one ffrom 30 yards out. The extra point was missed, but the Lions held a 20-7 lead with 1:17 left in the third. The quarter ended with Patuxent in the middle of a drive. They were on the 30 yard line at the end of the quarter.
On the third play of the fourth quarter, Reese Crounse saw tight end Juan Watkins break off of his corner route, and cut into the seam. When asked about the play later Watkins explained “ I was supposed to run a corner route and I saw the safety running to the pylon, so I cut to the seam and knew I was going to take a hit. I just held onto the ball, and knew I needed to score.” Watkins crossed the goal line, and celebrated with his teammates, but quickly ran back to the sidelines as there was still plenty of game to play. The extra point was good, and the score was narrowed to 20-14 with 10:34 left in the game.
Walkersville had several long runs on their next drive, but the defense tightened up, and eventually forced a 4th and 10. They called a play action pass to the tight end in the flat, and Greg Leonard ran up and laid the end out 5 yards short of the first down marker. When asked about the play, Leonard said “ I thought it was the season right there. The team has come too far to let one out route determine the rest of the season. I did it for my teammates, coaches, but most of all, I did it for the community. I went out, and made a play like any other week.”
Patuxent took over on downs following that play, and embarked on a 16 play, 7 minute long drive. It was, in essence, a perfect drive for what they could have done to keep Walkersville off the field. The drive was keyed where on a 3rd and 7, Crounse rolled to his left, and found Watkins cutting across the field in the hole of the cover 2 zone. He completed the pass to Watkins, who turned up the sidelines, and broke a tackle. He gained 29 yards on the play. The drive resulted in a first and goal at the 7 with 2:02 left in the game. On third and goal, from the 2 yard line, Chris Long took the handoff, cut it back, and plunged into the center of the line and gave Patuxent their first lead of the game. With 1:23 left in the game, it was 21-20 Patuxent.
On the ensuing kick return, Jacob Wetzel hit the far sideline, and turned upfield. He was chased down from behind at the Panthers 35 yard line with 1:15 left in the game. But, after a running play, and two incompleteions, it was 4th and 5 from the 30. Watkins sacked the Lions quarterback for a loss of 10, and clinched the state championship for the Panthers. During a post game interview Watkins told The BayNet, “ I was given a double team look all night, and on the last play, the tackle didn’t pay me no mind. So, I just ran free to the quarterback, and got the sack.” With one final kneel-down, the Panthers won the game, and celebrated on the field. They jumped into the air, and bumped each other. They ran to the student section, and celebrated with friends.
After the celebration, Greg Leonard told The BayNet about the last game of his high school career, “ There’s no better way to go out with winning the state championship. After everything we’ve been through, the ups and downs, the late comebacks like today… In August, I couldn’t imagine this happening. It’s a perfect ending to the perfect story. After last season, I knew that, as a senior, my teammates would look up to me. So, I arranged stuff with teammates, and we worked in the weight room every single day just wanting to build for this season. Everyone was on board, and we got the best thing any athlete can dream of–the state title.”
As a team, Patuxent will graduate 16 seniors from this team. They return a good group of skill players, a good amount of their offensive and defensive lines, and both quarterbacks. Among the big losses the Panthers have is the quartet of receivers, Leonard, Tyler Gross, Jared Massengill, and Chris Pendleton. The four of them had a combined 1,549 yards this season. An inexperienced group of juniors will take their place heading into next season. The immediate goal for the Panthers next season is to make it ‘back to ‘the bank’, and when asked about their status heading into next year, Coach Crounse responded with “ Oh yeah, we know. And we’ll be ready every week.”