Washington Edges Baltimore in Crab Bowl 24-21
Louis Young of 2009 WCAC champion Good Counsel football team is considered one of the top cornerbacks in the nation.
Photo by: Tony Ventouris / GamedayMD.com
Brian Lucas from Damascus High School, scored on a spectacular and jaw-dropping 65 yard touchdown run.
Photo by: Raj Modak / GamedayMD.com
Lerenzo Walters, from Dematha, intercepted a pass, sliced through defenders and ran down the sideline like a tightrope to score for the Washington all stars.
Photo by: Tony Ventouris / GamedayMD.com
Written by: Kelechi Ukpabi
TOWSON, MD - Maryland Crab Bowl- "Maryland does crab cakes and football." A line from the popular movie Wedding Crashers that once again proved to be true. Hundreds of blizzard weary high school football fans squeezed in between mounds of snow in the stands at Johnny Unitas Stadium on the campus of Towson University to enjoy the 2nd Annual Crab Bowl.
This game features the top high school seniors in the Washington and Baltimore area and each year is becoming more and more of a factor in college recruiting locally as well as nation-wide.
The game began with a much anticipated announcement from DeMatha star safety Michael Coley who declared his commitment to the University of California-Berkeley (Cal).
The game got off to an exciting start when on the Baltimore All-Stars' first drive, Billy Cosh (Arundel), who is the Maryland Offensive Player of the Year and a 2009 Gatorade Player of the Year Finalist, threw a interception to Louis Young who took it to the house with a 76 yard return for a touchdown for the game's first score.
Louis Young, who plays for 2009 WCAC champion Good Counsel, is considered one of the top cornerbacks in the nation and boasts All-Met, All-State, All WCAC, and All Sentential honors.
After a missed extra point after the touchdown, DC led 6-0. Following another unsuccessful drive by Baltimore and a three and out by DC, Billy Cosh was intercepted again by MoCo's own Axel Ofari, who attends Gaithersburg High School and is currently undecided on a college.
Washington could not capitalize from this turnover but the secondary showed its prominence one again. They intercepted Billy Cosh 4 times tonight, fooling the Baltimore offense by switching from cover 2 schemes to man to man often in the game.
The excellent play by the defensive backs resulted in another interception return for a touchdown on Billy Cosh's third interception of the day. Lerenzo Walters, from DeMatha, picked off Cosh's pass, sliced through defenders and ran down the sideline like a tightrope to score for the Washington all stars. DC then converted the 2 point try to make the score 14-0 after one quarter of play.
Washington jumped to a 21-0 on the most impressive play of the game. Montgomery County's own Brian Lucas, from Damascus High School, scored on a spectacular and jaw-dropping 65 yard touchdown run. Lucas bulldozed through a group of defenders, juked to the sideline and showed his amazing speed.
Lucas raced past smaller and quicker defensive back like it was nothing and after a successful extra point; Washington was up 21-0. It seemed as if it was going to be a stinker for our friends from the Charm City, but there was plenty fight left in them.
On the very next drive, Billy Cosh showed his powerful arm and accuracy that led him to so many local and national honors. Cosh orchestrated an impressive drive which led to a 32 yard touchdown pass to Matt Robinson (Atholton). Baltimore cut the score to 21-7, but they were not done.
Cosh then put together another stellar drive in the second quarter this time connecting with Ryan Dixon (Linganore) on another TD pass. Dixon has verbally committed to James Madison. The score now stood at 21-14.
John Carpenter (Allegany) connected on a 47 yard field goal just before to make the score 24-14.
Billy Cosh was at it again late in the third quarter. With major contributions from fullback Zach Zwinak (Linganore) who dominated the scoring drive halftime catching the balls out of the backfield and with punishing runs from scrimmage, the Baltimore All-Stars marched down the field to score on another pass from Cosh to Ronnie Harris, Cosh's teammate at Arundel.
The score would remain at 24-21 due to a defensive but entertaining 4th quarter filled with hard hits and bone chilling tackles.
Billy Cosh, who finished 29-54, 3 TDs, 4 ints, almost put together a game winning drive that made it all the way to the opponent's 7 yard line. But on Baltimore's last chance on 4th down with 4 seconds left, they came up short and the DC All Stars celebrated.
Fullback Zach Zwinak, who has committed to Penn State, took home MVP honors for the Baltimore team. Louis Young (Good Counsel) captured MVP for the Washington team. Dunbar's (Baltimore) Josh Alaeze secured the top lineman award.
