River Hill's Not-So-Secret Weapon

Attilio Campanaro remembers his youngest son, Michael, showing his competitive nature at 7 years old. Michael had played a year of flag football in the youth leagues at age 6 and displayed talent. Play one more year of flag, dominate the league and have fun, his dad said. Then next season you'll move up to tackle football.

"He wasn't having any of that," the father recalled. "If he wasn't playing tackle football, he wasn't playing at all. He played in the [ages] 7 to 9 league and was one of the better kids on the team."

Nearly a decade later, Michael Campanaro continues to thrive on the football field. His play this season is one of the main reasons fourth-ranked River Hill (11-0) is undefeated heading into tomorrow night's Maryland 2A South Region final against No. 10 Patuxent.

Campanaro, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior who plays tailback, defensive back and occasionally lines up at quarterback, has scored 28 touchdowns in 11 games this season via the run, pass and punt return. His 28 scores rank second in the Washington area (Surrattsville senior Davin Meggett has 32), and he has rushed for 1,438 yards as the Hawks have dismantled the opposition, 474-14.

"Early on, you could see the hand-eye coordination," said Attilio Campanaro, who was his son's head coach during his youth league days and is an assistant with the Hawks. "And he had great feet. He was tough and had a lot of vision. He had a great attitude. It made my job easy."

Campanaro started making opposing coaches notice last season, when as a sophomore he scored 19 touchdowns, ran for more than 1,100 yards and helped the Hawks reach the 3A state championship game. His first varsity game was a sign of things to come: He returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown, caught a 35-yard touchdown pass and scored on a 20-yard run.

"If you saw him play last year, you knew what he was capable of doing," Hawks Coach Brian Van Deusen said. "This year he's a little bit stronger, and he's just a playmaker whenever we get him the ball.

"We try to get him the ball in open spaces -- tosses and jet sweeps -- because he has great football instincts. He gets out into the open, has good vision, uses blocks well and has the quickness to make the first guy miss."

Campanaro has been one-third of the Washington area's most prolific rushing offense this season: Senior Zach Martin, junior Malek Redd and Campanaro combined for 3,490 yards, an average of 318 yards per game.

"Once I make one or two cuts on the guy, it's off to the races," Campanaro said. "It's all about being patient and setting up my blocks."

River Hill won its fifth consecutive Howard County title this season, and Campanaro said he was particularly "proud to be part of River Hill's tradition of winning." He said the Hawks have made it a goal to get back to the state championship game and "prove to ourselves that we're the best in 2A. If we don't walk away with a state championship this season, everyone is going to be very disappointed."

In January, Campanaro will head to San Antonio, where he was invited to participate in the U.S. Army National Combine, which is designed to identify the nation's top underclassmen through a series of physical tests and position-specific drills. Campanaro received the invitation three weeks ago amid a plethora of recruiting letters from colleges. He said he's one very busy student athlete these days.

"I go to school, practice, homework, go to sleep," Campanaro said. "My schedule is really planned out right now. It can be tiring sometimes, but it's a lot of fun."