Maret takes advantage of delay, pulls away from KIPP; Good Counsel struggles but wins

Long rain delays hit across the MAC and IAC on Saturday, including an 80-minute holdover that began with about four minutes left in Maret’s game against KIPP. Frogs Coach Mike Engelberg decided to keep the atmosphere light in the school’s cramped locker room during the intermission, even allowing his players to mingle with their parents and siblings.

The decision to keep his team loose with the unconventional social hour, Engelberg believes, is what saved his team on Saturday in their 20-13 win. KIPP scored a touchdown just minutes before the delay started, taking a 13-12 lead and seizing control.

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Host B.J. Koubaroulis runs through the top plays from the first two full weeks of games in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia high school football seasons.

“I think it totally affected the game. They had a lot of momentum after they scored,” Engelberg said. “It was like starting a whole new game.”

Maret’s defense stiffened in the fourth quarter on the soggy field and got the game-winning touchdown from Mike Greene in the fourth quarter. The senior rushed for 61 yards and added an interception, a sack and nine tackles from his linebacker position.

The Frogs (2-0) have reaped the benefits from the emergence of defensive end Tre’ Bowens, who Engelberg said is evoking memories of former Maret standout Sean Davis, who now plays at Maryland. The 6-4, 230-pound Bowens has registered six sacks in two games, including four on Saturday.

The difference for Bowens from his junior year to the first two games this season has been his ability to become more comfortable in the 3-5-3 defensive scheme that Maret runs, which naturally sends double-teams Bowens’s way. He also said he has developed a new set of moves from his end position – courtesy of hitting the football camp circuit this summer – which includes becoming more fundamentally sound with rip techniques.

“I really incorporated that into my game,” Bowens said. “I wanted to make this season one of my best.”

Maret will take on Randolph-Macon next week, followed by Riverdale Baptist. In early October, the Frogs will meet defending MAC champion Potomac School, which will be the litmus test for Maret’s legitimacy in the league.

“I think a lot of us are lot hungrier,” Bowens said. “We want to push as hard as we can so we can win the MAC.” . . .

Sidwell Friends’s Kameron Mitchell returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, including an 80-yard fourth-quarter score that proved to be the game-winner, in a 35-34 win over Randolph Macon. Mitchell returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown for Sidwell (1-0), which earned its first opening day win in four seasons. Diamente Holloway added three catches for 70 yards, with two of those receptions going for touchdowns…

Flint Hill’s Stevie Peterson completed 20-of-25 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as Paul VI Catholic rallied to beat the Huskies, 36-35 in overtime. Peterson added 61 yards rushing and Ben Kase caught 12 balls for 152 yards and one touchdown. Flint Hill scored on its first possession of overtime, on a seven-yard pass from Peterson to Cole Herdman, but the extra point failed after hitting the upright, and Paul VI scored and converted the PAT on the ensuing possession.