In the opening round of football playoffs Nov. 13, four county teams were whittled down to two, and after this Friday, there will be only one team left.

Atholton (10-1) will visit River Hill (11-0) Friday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. to play for the Class 3A East regional championship.

River Hill will be looking for its 40th straight win and its fifth consecutive regional title. The Hawks shut out J.M. Bennett, 70-0, in the opening round and got a chance to play their reserves in the second half.

Seven different players scored -- Kevin Johnson (three runs), Adam Brookhart (85-yard interception return), Brent Kluge (42-yard run), Nathan Norwood (24-yard interception return), Nick Bonhag (two runs), Kevin Sanders (61-yard run) and Kirby Smith (quarterback sneak). The Hawks also scored on a safety.

"We know what we're getting ourselves into and we've got to find a way to move the football and hang in there with them defensively," Atholton coach Kyle Schmitt said. "They're a great football team and we're going to take our shot at them. It's going to be a tremendous challenge, but (we've got) gutsy kids and we're going to play until the end."

River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen was a three-sport standout at Atholton. He graduated in 1992 and was inducted into the Raiders Hall of Fame in October.

"I had a great experience at Atholton ... and that's part of the reason I'm doing what I'm doing. I always enjoy going back and playing those guys, and the new coaching staff is doing a great job this year, it's good to see," he said.

River Hill won the regular-season meeting between the teams, a 35-14 decision Oct. 30. Atholton led, 14-7, at halftime on Kalvin Seamonson touchdown passes of 90 and 80 yards to Matt Robinson,

"Everybody's looking forward to (the rematch)," Robinson said. "We all want to get them back because we know that we kind of had them there for a second. They're a good team so it's going to be a hard week of practice to prepare for them ... I like our chances if we can just (stay together) as a team and play well."

An effective running game will be key for Atholton. The team rushed for 250 yards in its 14-13 first-round win over Wilde Lake Nov. 13, including 191 from leading rusher Andrew King, who has 826 yards this season.

"We found some things that worked and grinded it out a little bit," Schmitt said.

In Atholton's regular-season game against River Hill, King left the game at halftime with an injury and the Raiders managed less than 50 yards on the ground.

In the Raiders' first-round win over Wilde Lake, the Wildecats scored with 30 seconds left on a 5-yard run by E.J. Gilman to make the score 14-13. The Wildecats decided to go for the win, but missed on the two-point conversion, allowing Atholton to kneel on the ball and run out the clock.

Glenelg's season also ended Nov. 13 as the Gladiators fell at home to Douglass-PG in a 2A South regional semifinal, 24-12. The Gladiators trailed, 24-0, but scored twice in the fourth quarter on a pass from Gage Trawick to Colin Osborne and a run by Osborne.

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