Blake High School athletic director Jared Fribush announced the hiring of Bryon Marshall as the new variety football head coach at the school. He has been the Junior variety head coach since 2017 and will be taking over for DeShawn Anderson, who stepped down following the fall season.
Additional information can be seen below, courtesy of Blake High School Athletics:
The Blake Athletic Department and Administration is excited to announce the hiring of Bryon Marshall as the Varsity Football Head Coach. Mr. Marshall is the fourth head coach in the Blake Football program history. Coach Marshall takes over the position after DeShawn Anderson stepped down following the Fall 2021 season.
Coach Marshall has served on the Blake coaching staff since 2016, and as the JV Head Coach since 2017. He has been an integral part of the success of the Bengals over that span, including five consecutive playoff berths for the Varsity team and undefeated JV seasons in 2017 and 2018.
Prior to coming to Blake, Coach Marshall also served on the staffs at Einstein and Northwood High Schools.
In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Mr. Marshall has worked full time at Blake since 2016 in a variety of capacities, most recently being hired as the College and Career Information Coordinator in 2020.
Coach Marshall is respected by the students and staff at Blake for his work ethic and devotion to the students and community at Blake. He can be reached at [email protected].
By Jared Fribush, Athletic Director at Blake High School
Seneca Valley High School has announced the hiring of Joseph Rankin as the new varsity football coach. Rankin, who graduated from Seneca Valley in 2009, played professionally for four years, including a stint with the Cleveland Browns.
He has been defensive coordinator at the school for the last three years under Justin Sickeri, who he takes over for.
More from Seneca Valley High School Athletic Director, Jesse Irvin:
Introducing New Seneca Valley High School Football Coach
The Seneca Valley High School Athletic Department and Administration is pleased to announce the hiring of our new head football coach, Mr. Joseph Rankin. Coach Rankin is the fifth head coach in the storied history of Seneca Valley Football. Joe takes over the reins from Mr. Justin Sickeri.
Coach Rankin spent the last three seasons as the Defensive coordinator at Seneca Valley. Mr. Rankin, a Seneca Valley 2009 Graduate, played collegiately at Morgan State University, where he was a four‐year starter at defensive back and a two‐year team captain. While at Morgan State, he was ranked 2nd in all time interceptions in school history and was named 1st Team all MEAC. Mr. Rankin then played professionally from 2014‐2018.
Mr. Rankin comes highly recommended as a coach and teacher. He is dedicated to his student athletes and is great at developing relationships with all of his student athletes and students.
Most importantly, Coach Rankin is a leader who conducts himself with high moral and ethical integrity, earning the respect of everyone he meets.
We are extremely excited to introduce Joe as our next Head Varsity Football Coach. Please look for communication over the next few days regarding a player meeting and an online zoom parent/guardian meeting.
Sincerely,
Jesse Irvin
Athletic Director
Seneca Valley High School
By Syl Sobel
It’s been more than ten years since my youngest child graduated from QO, but I still follow QO football.
My kids ask me why. Many of my friends ask me why. My wife – who gamely accompanies me to many of the games – sometimes asks me why. And over the past couple of years, frankly, I’ve been asking myself why.
For eight years I had a good excuse. I covered high school sports for The Town Courier, the Kentlands/Lakeland community newspaper, whose tradition of covering QO sports was started and maintained for years by Mike Cuthbert and who I was privileged to succeed.
But the Town Courier has been out of business for a couple of years now. So why do I still follow QO football, sitting in “The Mayor’s Box” on Friday nights at the Cougar Dome with Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman, friends from the city government and QO staff, and a few other former QO parents?
Last Friday’s state championship game reminded me why.
Sitting in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with our transplanted Mayor’s Box group, it seemed like the QO side had twice as many fans as the Wise side. I looked around and saw many familiar faces – parents of kids that our girls went to school with; recent QO alumni, including former football players; young families with elementary and middle school students who were there to cheer for their future high school. It wasn’t just a Quince Orchard High School crowd that filled the home side of the stadium. It was a turnout by the QO community.
And that’s what QO has always been about –community. In the 25-plus years we’ve lived here, QOis and has been the focal point of a large, diverse community that families are part of from the time theirchildren are in elementary school to, well, the rest of your life if you want.
The QO community is the reason why so many alumni and alumni parents still drive to Annapolis on a Friday night in December to support the football team when it’s playing for the state championship. And why so many alumni parent friends of ours who weren’t at the stadium were messaging me about the game as they watched it on livestream at home.
The QO community is the reason why Quincy’s, the unofficial community watering hole, had a full house last Friday night to watch the livestream of the game, rooting for QO.
Community is why so many alumni parents still volunteer to work on the field, or in the grill shack, or concessions, even after their kids are no longer in school.
And it’s why QO students so often excel not just in football and other sports, but in academics, theater, art, music, and other extracurricular activities. Because the QO community – its teachers, administrators, coaches, and parents – make a deal with our students: You find something you like and want to do well, and we will provide the support, and the time, and the facilities to help you do it as well as you can.
And so often, they do. And we enjoy watching and taking pride in their accomplishments.
QO’s 2021 state championship culminates a quest over the past two decades to become the best public school football program in the state. It was an ambitious goal, almost ludicrous when it began. QO football, but for a state title in the school’s early years, was a middling team for most of the 1990s.
But first under Fred Kim, then under Dave Mencarini, and now under John Kelley, the program and its players have practiced the mantra of getting just a little better every day. And they have, from their 2007 state championship, to defeats in the 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2017 state championships (the last three times to Wise), to another state title in 2018.
And now, after beating Wise convincingly in the 2018 state semifinal and last Friday for the championship, there can be no doubt that the Cougars have achievedwhat they’ve long sought. QO is for now the best public school football program in Maryland, and our community can share in their glory.
Early Saturday morning, still savoring QO’s achievement a few hours earlier, Mayor Jud, my wife and I, and new Gaithersburg council member Lisa Henderson sat in Quincy’s with owners, Alexis and Marty Magill, themselves the parents of two members of QO’s 2007 state championship team.
Marty, Jud, and I shared recollections and stories of QO football teams and players past and present and struggled to explain why, after all these years, we remain as attached to QO football as we were when our children were young and we first began sitting under the Friday Night Lights in the Cougar Dome.
“It’s like an addiction,” Marty said.
“Yes, it is,” I agreed.
“I’ve got it, too,” said Jud.
“I think I’m starting to get hooked,” said Lisa, who at Jud’s suggestion attended her first QO game just a few weeks ago.
It’s not just the players or the action on the field. It’s not just the atmosphere with the band, and the cheer squad, and the poms, and the Red Army. It’s not justthe parents, and the grandparents, and the neighbors, and the siblings, and the little kids. It’s not even the state titles – though admittedly that helps fuel the addiction.
It’s the whole thing, the whole QO community, the support it takes from so many, the quest for excellence,the work and effort and the sheer drama necessary to get there, and now the commitment it will take to stay there.
When Friday’s game ended, and the players and coaches had gone through the traditional handshake line to congratulate and show their respect for eachother, Wise’s coach and several of his players stopped and looked up at the QO stands.
And then they lifted their hands and applauded, a sign of respect to the QO community as well.
See you next season at the Cougar Dome.
Featured photo:
Best experience in my life ❤️. @QO_FOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/q0WPJebEc5
— Makhi Walker #5 (@_makhiwalker_) December 4, 2021
Springbrook Head Football Coach Dustin Jeter has been named the Washington Football Team’s High School Coach of the Week
The High School Coach of the Week program is a league-wide initiative designed to recognize area high school football coaches who continuously demonstrate hard work and dedication to their football programs, the health and safety of their players, and who make a difference in their communities. Each coach chosen throughout the high school football season will receive a $2,000 donation from the Washington Football Charitable Foundation to their football program.
“Coach Jeter leads with love. He demonstrates compassion and empathy while maintaining high-level expectations of players, both in preparation and in execution on the field. He celebrates successes loudly, and ensures players also see the side of him that’s human, offering advice and life experience to help them navigate their high school years.”
The award was announced by the Washington Football Team on social media last week.
No better way to spend #VictoryTuesday than by celebrating our Coach of the Week presented by @InovaHealth, Coach Dustin Jeter from Springbrook HS!@DustinJeter goes far beyond the scope of football to help grow young men, so they can impact the world.#WashingtonCoachOfTheWeek pic.twitter.com/CXYlfIeLtf
— Washington Football Community Relations (@WasNFLCommunity) November 30, 2021
Below you’ll see scores from the MoCo school games in the State Quarterfinals of the Maryland high school football playoffs (public schools).
We will update the scores throughout the night.
4A:
Old Mill (8-2) 6 at Quince Orchard (11-0) 41 F
Blair (8-2) 2 at Wise (10-0) 62 F
Paint Branch (9-1) 26 at Northwest (10-1) 33 F
4A-3A
Blake (5-5) 21 at Sherwood (8-2) 42 F
Arundel (7-3) 29 at Seneca Valley (8-3) 21 F
Below you’ll see the MoCo school games that will be in the State Quarterfinals of the Maryland high school football playoffs (public schools).
The games will take place on Friday night at 7pm and we will update scores throughout the games.
4A:
Old Mill (8-2) at Quince Orchard (11-0)
Blair (8-2) at Wise (10-0)
Paint Branch (9-1) at Northwest (10-1)
4A-3A
Blake (5-5) at Sherwood (8-2)
Arundel (7-3) at Seneca Valley (8-3)
Below you’ll see scores from the second round of the Maryland State High School Football playoffs (games involving MCPS schools).
Scores will be updated as we receive them and will continue to be updated until all scores are final.
Walter Johnson Wildcats 7 @ Quince Orchard Cougars 51
Churchill Bulldogs 6 @ Northwest Jaguars 42
Einstein Titans 20 @ Paint Branch Panthers 56
Laurel Spartans 35 @ Blair Blazers 56
Howard Lions 9 @ Seneca Valley Screamin’ Eagles 45
Springbrook Blue Devils 16 @ Sherwood Warriors 22
Magruder Colonels 0 @ Blake Bengals 16
Damascus Hornets 12 @ Frederick Cadets 43
Below you’ll see the MoCo school games that will be played in the second round of the regional games in the Maryland state playoffs (public schools).
4A Games
Friday, November 12th at 6:30pm
5 Walter Johnson Wildcats @ 1 Quince Orchard Cougars
3 Churchill Bulldogs @ 2 Northwest Jaguars
4 Einstein Titans @ 1 Paint Branch Panthers
3 Laurel Spartans @ 2 Blair Blazers
4A/3A Games
6:30pm
5 Howard Lions @ 1 Seneca Valley Screamin’ Eagles
4 Springbrook Blue Devils @ 1 Sherwood Warriors
3 Magruder Colonels @ 2 Blake Bengals
3A Games
Friday, November 12th at 6:30pm
3 Damascus Hornets @ 2 Frederick Cadets
2A/1A Games
N/A
We’ll have updates of the scores as they come in on Friday night.
Below you’ll see the most recent updates or final scores of the first round of the high school football playoffs. They’ll be updated as we receive them.
3:30 PM
Watkins Mill 0 at Seneca Valley 40
6:30 PM
Oakdale 43at Rockville 6
Richard Montgomery 14 at Churchill 20
Walter Johnson 28 at BCC 20
Wootton 0 at Magruder 16
7:00 PM
Clarksburg 13 at Northwest 38
Gaithersburg 6 at Quince Orchard 49
High Point 0 at Einstein 42
Kennedy 8 at Springbrook 28
Poolesville 28 at Walkersville 35
South Hagerstown 13 at Damascus 54
Saturday 11/6
Wheaton at Laurel (2 PM)
First Round Byes: Blair, Blake, Paint Branch, Sherwood
Forfeits: Northwood, Whitman
Below you’ll see the most recent updates or final scores of the week 9 MCPS football games. They’ll be updated as we receive them.
If a score isn’t listed, it’s because we didn’t receive a report from the game.
Thursday, 10/28
Clarksburg 6 at Quince Orchard 38
Poolesville 27 at Manchester Valley 37
Sherwood 23 at Magruder 7
Friday, 10/29
Blair 28 at BCC 19
Churchill 7 at Gaithersburg 35
Damascus 7 at Seneca Valley 10 (3:30pm)
Northwest 55 at Whitman 13
Northwood 0 at Einstein 46
Rockville 10 at Richard Montgomery 35
Springbrook 0 at Blake 7
Walter Johnson 27 at Wootton 8
Watkins Mill 0 at Paint Branch 54
Wheaton 0 at Kennedy 30
The Clarksburg/Quince Orchard varsity football game has been moved to this evening.
A letter was sent out to the Quince Orchard communities alerting them of the change. It can be seen below.
“Attention QO Community!
Due to the significant rain forecasted for Friday and
into Saturday, the varsity football game vs
Clarksburg will be moved to Thursday, October 28 at
6:30 p.m.
This change has been approved by the
coaches, athletics specialists, and administrations at
both schools and allows the natural grass field at
Quince Orchard High School to host multiple playoff
events on Saturday (2 home soccer playoff games)
and Monday (home field hockey playoff game).
We appreciate the flexibility of both school communities to allow for the games for all sports to be played on the highest quality playing field possible.
Go Cougars!”
