Scott, North Point Take Care of Business

The whooping started before North Point Coach Ken Lane finished his postgame speech. The Eagles were anxious to celebrate, and it was hard to blame them. In a driving rain, they put their hands in the air, jumping in unison and hollering louder with each passing second.

"Whose year is it?" one player asked.

"Our Year! Our Year! OUR YEAR!" teammates yelled.

The 20-14 win over previously undefeated Huntingtown served as notice for the rest of the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference that the Eagles (3-1) mean business. North Point is no longer the scrawny little kid on the block who always got beat up by the neighbors.

North Point itself has only existed for four years and is the youngest school in the SMAC. The Eagles finished 3-7 in 2007 -- their first year fielding a varsity program. Although they had an entire team of returning players, no one knew what to expect from the first class of graduating seniors.

"Everything is new," Lane said. "The whole atmosphere of varsity football, of Friday night is new and what we're trying to build is exciting. This does mean a lot to them and hopefully we can continue to build on this and make it the start of a tradition."

Through the season's first three weeks questions remained. The Eagles lost a close game to the defending conference champions the opening week, then collected two wins over mid-level opponents. How they performed against Huntingtown, which was off to a 3-0 start, would be a good gauge of where the young program stood and everyone in Eagle Stadium knew it.

From the beginning, the Hurricanes (3-1) couldn't find a way to stop the Eagles' rushing attack. North Point doesn't hide its game -- the Eagles ran on 45 of 52 offensive plays -- bringing a barrage of speed to open holes. They jumped out to a lead off an eight-yard run by Arlando Scott at the end of the first quarter.

Huntingtown responded in the opening minutes of the second quarter, scoring twice to take a 14-7 lead into halftime. But in the second half the North Point defense clamped down and allowed the Hurricanes to gain just a single first down.

"We're really happy about our defense," said Scott, who rushed for 164 yards on 23 carries. "When we see them go out there and stop a team that we know is so powerful offensively it just makes us want to go out there and match it -- to score."

Scott capped the Eagles' first two drives of the fourth quarter with touchdowns, including a four-yard run midway through the period that produced the final margin. That final score culminated an eight-play drive that was entirely on the ground.

"We were underdogs against Huntingtown," said quarterback Ja'Ron Neal, who had 91 yards rushing on 13 carries. "We were underdogs coming into this season and I'm just so proud of my team. This was a big win for us, but we've got more big wins to come."

North Point 20, Huntingtown 14 Injury Report: Eagles running back Dalante Thompson left the game in the third quarter and was examined by EMTs on scene when he started to show concussion-like symptoms, North Point Coach Ken Lane said. To the House: DJ Hopper, one of the Hurricanes' leading tacklers, recovered the lone fumble of the game and ran it back 74 yards for Huntingtown's second touchdown.