Paint Branch-Quince Orchard and Eleanor Roosevelt-Wise highlight big weekend in Maryland

Around Southern Maryland

Upstart Calvert has been the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference’s biggest surprise in the season’s first two weeks, and the 2-0 Cavaliers will face their toughest test yet Friday when they visit Calvert County rival Huntingtown.

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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.

Calvert (2-0, 1-0 SMAC) has allowed just a safety in its first two games, but now has to face Huntingtown’s pro-style offense that has scored 13 touchdowns so far in two lopsided wins.

“Last year we played one of our best games against them and came up a touchdown short,” Calvert Coach Rick Sneade said. “Now, here we are 2-0 and our kids are excited about this opportunity.”

Sneade is very familiar with Huntingtown’s program, having served as an assistant there from 2005-2010.

He and first-year Huntingtown Coach Brendan Galligan were both assistants on longtime coach Jerry Franks’s staff, and Sneade was an assistant on Franks’s staff at Calvert when Galligan played there in the late 90’s.

“Having both learned from Coach Franks, I’m sure there’s a similar way we prepare and a lot of the same attention to detail,” Sneade said. “Plus, having been with those kids for so long, it’s neat to go out there and match up with those guys.”

The similarities end with the coaching staffs’ shared history.

While Huntingtown (2-0, 1-0) employs a power running game with senior running back Carl Riffe to set up the pass for senior quarterback Zach Piazza, Calvert runs a more unorthodox flexbone option attack that relies on more than one or two playmakers.

The Cavaliers have not qualified for the playoffs since 2002, and a win this week against a Huntingtown squad that has played in the postseason five straight years would send a serious message that they have arrived.

“We know Calvert is an up-and-coming team,” Galligan said. “They’re going to be dangerous.”

Around Anne Arundel

Arundel’s high-powered offense, which has scored 97 points in two games, will face its toughest test of the season thus far Friday night at home against undefeated Meade, which has yet to give up a single point this season.

The Wildcats exploded for 627 yards of total offense last week in a 55-0 win over Northeast, and Arundel will take the field Friday against Meade with nearly 1,100 yards of offense already under its belt.

The Mustangs, who have scored 35 points or more in both games this season, will also provide the toughest test yet for Arundel’s defense, a squad that has allowed just 312 yards of total offense this season.

Meade’s offense is led by junior quarterback Marcus Smith, who has thrown for two touchdowns and run for another in each of his team’s victories this season. The balanced Mustangs feature three players averaging 7 yards per carry or better and three more that average 18 yards per reception or more.