Prep Football Notebook: Broadneck puts pieces together for late charge

Broadneck has finally found its stride. It just might be too late.

With nearly everything working in a 44-19 victory over North County on Saturday, Deontray Lee walked off the field soaked by rainfall and drenched with confidence.

"We're about to be elite," said Lee, who ran for three of Broadneck's five rushing touchdowns. "We're getting there. We're pretty close."

While the Bruins (6-2) weren't perfect against North County, they weren't too far from it.

Broadneck outscored the Knights, 30-6, over the last 24 minutes, 40 seconds and allowed little breathing room for quarterback Pat Downey during the second half en route to its fourth victory in five games.

Va'a Niumatalolo, Hussam Ouri and Nick Ochoa provided a punch on the left side of the defensive front, and Corey Atwell sacked Downey for a safety during the fourth quarter to hold back the Knights' creeping offense.

The Bruins need to either win their remaining games against Northeast (1-7) and Old Mill (7-1), split them and have Annapolis (6-2) lose both or rely on a lead in the points race to secure the fourth spot in the Class 4A East Region playoffs.

Severna Park managed to clip Broadneck by a point for the final spot last season.

Lee was able to find big holes in the Knights' defensive line and secondary, and Ronnie VanMeter scored twice on the ground as Broadneck had seven players gain yardage - including both quarterbacks, Nick Storey and James Mullis, who regularly alternated drives.

"We need everybody we can," said running back Zach Treakle, who gave the Bruins a 21-13 lead on an 84-yard option pass to Kevin Brown at the end of the first half. "Everybody needs to work together to do as much as we can to do it."

RUNNING WILD: Only five Anne Arundel County running backs ran for more than 700 yards last season. So far this season, after eight games, there are eight, and all of them have legitimate shots to cross 1,000 yards - if they haven't already.

Seven of the county's 16 football teams could sport 1,000-yard rushers, while Old Mill has a strong shot at having two. Led by Archbishop Spalding's K.K. Smith (1,103) and Old Mill's Josh Furman (1,040), the county is loaded with strong-legged running backs who spin, bounce, stretch and sprint for extra yardage.

While Arundel's Joe Blackwell (775) and Old Mill's Jason Clements (750) will likely have at least three more games to pad their totals, the other four likely won't need a third to cross that line - though with the exception of St. Mary's Mike Coyle (812), who will only play two games since his team is eliminated from postseason contention, every other player has a chance for at least a third.

In order to finish the regular season with 1,000 rushing yards, Annapolis' Demond Brown needs to average 37.5 per game; Coyle 91; Blackwell 112.5; Clements 125; North County's Antoine Drummond 135; Southern's Devonte Burke 140.5.

"It's our job to make sure Burke doesn't get it," Annapolis coach Brian Brown said, referring to his Week 9 game with Southern.

Last year's 1,000-yard rushers were North County's Dino Stevens (1,555), St. Mary's Neill Lewnes (1,205), Demond Brown (1,058) and Archbishop Spalding's Nick Whittles (1,003). Furman finished with 796, despite not taking a larger load until Week 5.

STILL LEARNING: When Stevens walked out of the North County locker room, he took with him than his 1,555 yards and 21 touchdowns. And the Knights lost the experienced running back on whom they relied so heavily.

Drummond is progressing faster than North County coach Gary Liddick imagined, but he's still got room to improve.

"We still miss Dino Stevens," Liddick said. "The difference between Drummond and Dino is Drummond is still working on getting by the second level. When Dino got into that secondary, he was gone. Drummond is still figuring out what he needs to do when he gets there."

Drummond rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries against Broadneck and broke for several chunks of eight and nine yards. But he has yet to score a touchdown from further than five yards out.

Eleven of Stevens' county-high 21 rushing touchdowns last year went for at least 10 yards; nine were for 17-plus; and three went for 50 or more.

Stevens, however, was a senior. Drummond, a sophomore, still has some maturing - both physically and mentally - to do.

"He's got a good future," Liddick said. "We want to keep his grades straight and get him in the weight room and get him out for track. He needs to get faster; that's his big thing. He has decent speed, but he doesn't have breakaway speed."