Even though it is only Week 2, Brent Kluge's No. 27 River Hill jersey is torn in several places and stained with grass and mud. It is a testament to the way he plays football and a symbol of the Hawks' ability to keep winning with changing personnel. They pounded out their 30th victory in a row Friday night, 27-0, at Wilde Lake.

"What I like to play is power football. I'm not the fastest person, so when I get the chance I like to put my head down and just see how many people I can run through," said Kluge, who played for Hereford last season before his family moved to Howard County. "This rainy weather, I love it."

Kluge last played at Wilde Lake as a Hereford sophomore in the 3A state semifinal game Nov. 28, 2008. Wilde Lake won 42-16.

"I had a lot of animosity built up and was ready to take it to them," Kluge said. "And when the line pushed off and I had a hole I thought, 'Oh yeah, here we go. It's game time.' "

Running behind big lineman Thomas Erdman (6 feet 2, 230 pounds) and crew, Kluge barreled up the middle repeatedly Friday night, tearing up the rain-slicked turf, 8, 10, 12 yards at a time. With his squat, sturdy frame (5-10, 205) and protective collar jutting out behind his neck, Kluge stands in stark contrast to the slick moves and quick acceleration of Michael Campanaro and Malek Redd, the pair of River Hill running backs who combined for 3,240 yards and 43 touchdowns rushing last season. But so far, he has been just as effective, gaining just over 150 yards on 22 attempts (almost seven yards per carry) Friday.

"You adjust to your personnel," said River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen, whose team is 2-0. "We pounded the ball a good amount today, and we've got some speed at halfback with Kevin Johnson (80 yards on 10 carries) and some other guys, that every once in awhile we mix in the outside stuff. And we can throw the ball, too."

With the rain, and the ease with which they were running the ball, though, the Hawks didn't have to pass.

Quarterback Harry McLaughlin capped drives with quarterback keepers into the end zone in each of the first two quarters, giving the Hawks a 14-0 lead at the half. Kluge scored on a 17-yard run in the third quarter, and the Hawks got their final points on a 23-yard run by John McMichael with 8:21 left in the game.

Wilde Lake (1-1) ran only 11 plays in the second half, compared to River Hill's 30. Junior E.J. Gilman led the Wildecats with 51 yards on six attempts.

Kluge "wore us down, their big offensive linemen wore us down a little bit in the second half," Wilde Lake coach Mike Harrison said. "We're a young football team still. Sometimes ... you have to stumble a bit to grow up."

"Their drives got sustained, ours got short," Wilde Lake junior quarterback Joe Kelly said. "They obviously looked like they wanted it more than us ... we definitely need to work on a lot of things, but we're going to keep our heads up."

River Hill     6  8  7  6 - 27
Wilde Lake  0  0  0  0 - 0

RH: McLaughlin 4 run (kick failed), 6:38.
RH: McLaughlin 3 run (Kluge run), 6:09.
RH: Kluge 17 run (Shahegh kick), 4:08.
RH: McMichael 23 run (kick failed), 8:21.

Around the league

Long Reach 13, Hammond 12

For the second week in a row, Long Reach won a game that was too close for comfort. This time, the Lightning (2-0) prevailed over Hammond (0-2).

The Bears scored with 65 seconds left to account for the final score, and tried to make the two-point conversion to go for their first win in more than a year, but were unsuccessful.

Long Reach scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown on a 16-yard Kwasi Sarpong run with 5:41 left in the game. That run capped a seven-minute drive in which the Lightning converted on fourth down twice.

Hammond's last win was over Long Reach, on Oct. 29, 2007.

Long Reach  0  0  7  6 - 13
Hammond     0  6  0  6 - 12

Ha: #22 pass from Haynes (conversion failed), :11.
LR: Korzienowski 20 run (Dayhoff kick), 7:30.
LR: Sarpong 16 run (kick failed), 5:41.
Ha: #5 pass from Haynes (conversion failed), 1:05.

Atholton 15, Howard 14

The action was also intense at Atholton (2-0), where the Raiders held off Howard (1-1). Calvin Ford scored on a sneak from a yard out with just under five minutes left, but the Lions were unable to complete the extra point that would have tied the game.

Atholton quarterback Kalvin Seamonson accounted for all of the Raiders' scoring, rushing for both touchdowns and scoring the two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to give the Raiders the lead. He also was 7-for-13 passing for 100 yards. Matt Robinson had all seven catches. Andrew King was the Raiders' leading rusher, with 12 carries for 135 yards.

Howard    0  8  0  6 - 14
Atholton  0  7  0  8 - 15

A: Seamonson 1 run (Robinson kick)
Ho: NA pass from Ford (NA run)
A: Seamonson run (Seamonson run)
Ho: Ford 1 run (kick failed)

Glenelg 32, Oakland Mills 7

Glenelg improved to 2-0 with a convincing win over Oakland Mills (0-2). Quarterback Gage Trawick threw scoring passes to Shane Kellaher, Colin Osborne, Jake True and Jimmy Zito. Shannon Maura also rushed for a Gladiators TD.

Mt. Hebron 35, Marriotts Ridge 20

The Vikings evened their record at 1-1 with a two-touchdown win over the visiting Mustangs (0-2).

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user comments (1)

user numberoneahsfan says...

AHS has answered the naysayers and critics with two impressive wins . . . their offense and defense has shown that they are really better than the so called "power rating" number given in most polls.

Posted 3:11 PM, 09.14.09

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