On most days after school, Landon’s place kicker
Matt Underhill
attends the Bears’ practice for the first 45 minutes. The coaching staff has tailored that time for Underhill to get all of repetitions in on point after attempts and field goals. After that frame of time has passed, Underhill will then hurry across campus for his daily practice with the Landon soccer team, where he is the team captain.
Because of an overlap in the two teams’ game schedules, Underhill hasn’t kicked for the Bears in a game for four weeks. But he was there this past Saturday in a 15-14 win over St. Stephens and St. Agnes, where he provided the game-winning 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
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“It was a very scrappy game for us,” said Underhill. “I was confident of where the ball was and the position they put me in.”
In just his second month ever playing football, it was the first kick in his career that really mattered. He had connected on point after attempts earlier in the season in wins over McNamara and Annapolis Area Christian, but his field goal attempts had all failed. But part of the reason the football coaching staff wanted Underhill to join the team was because of the strength of his leg — and his ability to connect on mid-range kicks came through Saturday in an important IAC win.
“It was different, like readjusting to playing football,” said Underhill. “That was my first important field goal.”
Underhill has been a key ingredient to a successful soccer season for Landon (8-3-1), and he scored a goal on Friday in a 2-1 overtime win over St. Stephens and St. Agnes. The Bears will finish their regular season schedule on Tuesday against St. Albans, and Underhill will continue to rotate practices through the rest of the month. Landon’s football team will meet undefeated Bullis (7-0) on Saturday, an IAC showdown that was made all the more pivotal after Underhill secured the win for Landon last week.
“Matt Underhill is a very good kicker, a great soccer player. We just haven’t been in very many situations where we were able to have a field goal,” said Landon running back Myles Allen, who rushed for 174 yards last week. “I’m not surprised that he made it.”
Around the IAC
A week after the Bullis offense stole the show in a 61-14 win over St. Stephens & St. Agnes, the Bulldogs defense headlined a dominant 29-0 win over St. Albans on Saturday. It was just the second shutout of the season for Bullis (7-0), but it came against a St. Albans team that entered the contest averaging 37.2 points per game. Defensive end Peter Angeh recorded five sacks, which was his third consecutive game with multiple sacks, and the Bullis defense held St. Albans (4-4) to just 33 yards rushing and 10 first downs. “Our goal is still to go 10-0,” said Angeh. “There’s no drop-off between the starters and the backups. We just practiced harder all week until we got the job done.”
Around the MAC
Aided by Cameron Vaughn’s 138 yards rushing and three touchdowns, Flint Hill scored 49 points in the first half en route to a 62-21 trouncing of Maret on Saturday. The Huskies (5-2) won their fifth straight, while Maret (3-4) dropped their fourth consecutive game. Tre Bowens led the Frogs with five catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. . . .
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