No. 11 Gwynn Park overcomes turnovers, tops Potomac

The Gwynn Park High School football team turned the ball over seven times on Saturday afternoon but still managed to escape with a 35-20 victory at Potomac.

Quarterback Marc Lucas threw two touchdown passes to Johnny Norris, while the 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets' defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns. But Gwynn Park kept giving Potomac chances, as Lucas tossed three interceptions and the Yellow Jackets fumbled four times.

Gwynn Park Coach Danny Hayes said his team has a few things it needs to work on as the playoffs approach.

"As good as Potomac is, you can't give them the ball deep in your zone and not expect them to score," Hayes said. "We turned the ball over a couple of times on special teams and those are some of the things we need to work on."

Things looked easy for Gwynn Park on its opening drive. The Yellow Jackets drove deep into Potomac territory, but they lost a fumble at the Potomac 3-yard line. The Wolverines answered with a four-play, 97-yard drive capped off by a 35-yard touchdown run by Ronald Darby.

The Yellow Jackets turned the ball over on their second possession, but their defense bailed them out. Travon White intercepted a Sharmarte Banks pass and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 8-8.

Gwynn Park started to pull away in the second quarter after Khalek Shepherd's 4-yard touchdown run and the first touchdown pass from Lucas to Norris.

But turnovers again gave Potomac a chance at the start of the third quarter. Shepherd fumbled a punt, and the Wolverines recovered at the Gwynn Park 21-yard line. Marcus Hagens dove in for a 1-yard touchdown run to bring Potomac within 22-14. But that was as close as it would get, as Gwynn Park hung on for the victory.

Although his team is all but a lock for a spot in the 3A South Region playoffs, Potomac coach Chris Davidson said the Wolverines still had something to prove.

"We don't want people to feel that we backed into the playoffs," he said. "We wanted to show that we belong in the playoffs and that we are a team people might want to look out for."

The Yellow Jackets (9-0) clinched the top seed in the 2A South Region and don't return to action until the first week of the playoffs on weekend of Nov. 13-14. Their final regular season game against Crossland will not be played because the Crossland administration cancelled the rest of the season in the wake of unsportsmanlike conduct by the team. Potomac (5-4) finishes its regular season next Saturday at Surrattsville.

This story is from The Gazette group of community newspapers published by Post-Newsweek Media, a unit of The Washington Post Co.