“It was just his turn again, I guess,” Coach Kevin Watson said.
A track sprinter who excels in open space, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Littlejohn picked up 91 yards and both Watkins Mill scores on 16 carries, running almost exclusively between the tackles.
After Littlejohn scored the game’s last touchdown on a three-yard run with fewer than four minutes remaining, the Wolverines lined up to try for the game-tying extra point. Instead, Watson called timeout and brought the team together. The coach wasn’t sure if senior quarterback Patrick Schlosser would be able to pass in overtime after injuring his throwing shoulder on the touchdown drive.
Watkins Mill (6-2) put its offense back on the field and ran the same play again to pick up the two-point conversion with Littlejohn following fullbacks Isiah Tindale and Prodige Kikwata across the goal line off the right side. Wootton (4-4) moved into Watkins Mill territory on its final drive, but senior Dontay Hears — the team’s other Stony Brook commit — ended the game with a tackle on the final play as the Patriots tried to lateral their way to the end zone.
“We like to make that cut and go, and we just couldn’t do it” with the slick field conditions, Watson said. “We had to go downhill. When you get out in that type of weather, you can’t dance around. You have to run forward.”
With the win, Watkins Mill stayed in the hunt for a Maryland 3A West playoff berth. Seven teams in the region have at least five wins, but the Wolverines would have a good chance to take a top-four spot if they beat Magruder (1-6) and Seneca Valley (8-0) to close the season.
Wootton entered the week holding the fourth spot in the Maryland 4A West standings, but the Patriots should fall behind Bethesda-Chevy Chase, which beat Rockville to get to 5-3 on Friday, in the updated version. . . .
Northwood (1-6) ended up with a rare midseason bye this week as a result of a scheduling mix-up. The Gladiators had an open date to fill on their schedule with an out-of-county opponent during this two-year scheduling period and had signed a two-year contract to play John Carroll, a Bel Air private school, according to Coach Dennis Harris.
The teams played last fall, but John Carroll, which plays in the MIAA-B, did not have the date open this year when its league schedule came out. Harris said he and Athletic Director Marco Fuggitti didn’t find out about the mix up until late August, and the Silver Spring school could not find a new opponent in the week it had to finalize the schedule.
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