FOOTBALL: Playoff preview

By Andrew Conrad
Posted: November 20, 2009

No upsets in the first round of the playoffs, so no need to update the power rankings. Phew…

Atholton plays at River Hill Friday night at 7 for the 3A East regional championship. It’s supposed to be chilly and partly cloudy, with no rain.

I’ve already previewed this game for the paper, but now I’ll do it for the blog-o-sphere, which allows me to shoot from the hip and be a little more conversational, and a little more stat heavy (no space limitations online).

So who is going to win? River Hill has won 39 games in a row, so you won’t find this prognosticator picking against the Hawks. Then again, this is high school football and Atholton led 14-7 at halftime of their regular-season encounter, which River Hill won, 35-14.

That said, Atholton scored twice on touchdowns of 90 and 80 yards from Kalvin Seamonson to Matt Robinson in that game. Something tells me that the River Hill secondary has been working especially hard this week on making sure that doesn’t happen again. Hawks coach Brian Van Deusen does expect them to try, however.

“I’m sure they’re going to come out and try that again, when you’ve got a kid like Matt Robinson you’ve got to,” he said.

Passing the ball is exciting, but what Atholton is really going to have to do to change the outcome is run the ball, and stop River Hill from running. The Raiders did neither last time, as River Hill outscored them 28-0 in the second half.

Oddly enough, Atholton has scored exactly 14 points in four of its last five games, including last Friday’s 14-13 playoff victory over Wilde Lake. The Raiders have scored at least two touchdowns and two extra points in every game this season. River Hill has scored at least four touchdowns in every game this season (and 10 last game — a 70-0 thrashing of J.M. Bennett).

I think the Atholton defense is going to fight off the River Hill running game a little better than last time and hold the Hawks to four touchdowns. I think that Atholton is going to score twice again, maybe even three times. But I still see River Hill winning this game by two or three touchdowns.

For those who like stats with their picks, here’s a statistical breakdown:

River Hill (11-0)

Points scored: 474 (43.1 per game). Points allowed: 72 (6.55).

Atholton (10-1)

Points scored: 284 (25.8). Points allowed: 179 (16.3).

Atholton’s leading rushers

Andrew King: 826 yards, 142 attempts (5.8 per carry), 7 touchdowns.

Kalvin Seamonson: 394, 60, (6.6), 8.

Anthony Ernest: 312, 58 (5.4), 0.

Kendall Newsome: 296, 62 (4.8), 2.

Team: 358, 2,099 (5.9), 17.

River Hill’s leading rushers

Kevin Johnson: 106, 1,055 (10.0), 15.

Brent Kluge: 111, 955 (8.6), 7.

John McMichael: 35, 301 (8.6), 5.

Jordan Griffin: 24, 260 (10.8), 3.

Team: 431, 3,481 (8.1), 53.

Atholton’s leading passer

Kalvin Seamonson: 79 completions, 157 attempts (50.3 percent), 1,309 yards, 16 touchdowns.

River Hill’s leading passer

Harry McLaughlin: 26, 50 (50.2), 458, 9.

Atholton’s leading receivers

Matt Robinson: 39 catches, 792 yards (20.3 per catch), 9 touchdowns.

Adam D’Amico: 9, 181 (20.1), 4.

Curtis Pumphrey: 10, 141 (14.1), 0.

Team: 79, 1,309 (16.6), 16.

River Hill’s leading receivers

Kevin Johnson: 11, 227 (20.6), 3.

Nick Bonhag: 7, 67 (9.6), 3.

Jeremy Ogorzalek: 3, 90 (30.0), 2.

Team: 26, 458 (17.6), 9.

Atholton’s leading tacklers

Steve Whiting: 77

Matt Robinson: 73

Zach Deal: 71

Team: 746

River Hill’s leading tacklers

Wayne Emerson: 104.

Jordan Griffin: 92.

Brent Kluge: 83.

Team: 787.

Atholton’s sacks

Brian Anthony: 4

Matt Robinson: 4

Zach Deal: 4

Team: 23

River Hill’s sacks

Thomas Erdman: 9.

Brent Kluge: 6.5

Nick Bonhag: 6.

Team: 34

Atholton’s interceptions

Curtis Pumphrey: 2

Adam D’Amico: 2

Team: 7.

River Hill’s interceptions

John McMichael: 4

Kevin Johnson: 3

Team: 12.

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