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When the weather got cold and the stakes got high, the North Point Eagles started producing zeros. They were beautiful: big and round and resounding. Through week after week of playoff football, the Waldorf program held its opponent scoreless. The Eagles’ defense, fearsome in the regular season, reached another, terrifying level in the playoffs. Across four weeks, the team outscored its opponents 133 to nothing.
But in Friday night’s Maryland 4A/3A championship at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, North Point didn’t need another zero from its defense. It just needed it to do the things good defenses do: start the game strong, stem a rally and come up with a few key stops. The group obliged, helping the Eagles to a 31-14 win over Arundel and the first state title in program history.
“In practice, the defensive coaches train us to be young men out on that field,” junior linebacker Kamari Loving said. “And I think that separates us from most of these high schools. …This team really just thrives off the defense.”
Friday’s celebratory scene in Annapolis was the joyous capper to what began as a precarious campaign. After an offseason during which coach Tom Petre stepped down in July and was replaced on an interim basis by Billy Condo, North Point took some time to settle into this fall. They started the year 0-2, a close loss to powerhouse Wise followed by a surprising defeat at the hands of Great Mills. Condo preached patience, telling his team the only thing that mattered is how they finished the year.
“One of our coaches likes to start every year, ‘This is the year they’re going to make a movie about us,’ and we laugh and joke about casting,” Condo said. “Certainly this movie had plenty of plot twists. At 0-2, it wasn’t looking too great. But these kids just kept on working, and we knew we were going to be a good football team. It was just a matter of time.”
On Friday night, the Eagles (11-3) finished the year with an all-out effort from the opening kickoff. After forcing an Arundel three-and-out to begin the game, North Point used its first offensive play to make a statement. Faking a handoff to bell-cow back Tyrone Hudson, quarterback Kaleb Hart dropped back to pass and hit Xavier Herbert on a deep post for a 42-yard touchdown. The Eagles, who made it here largely because of their defense and running game, were saying they could do just about everything. By the end of the first quarter, they led 17-0.
Arundel, down two quarterbacks because of injuries, was unable to run its usual high-flying spread offense and looked a step behind North Point early. A resilient contender out of Anne Arundel County, the Wildcats (10-3) put some of that fight on display in the third quarter as they scored two long touchdowns in a stunning 50-second period to get back into the game.The Eagles’ defense and Hart’s arm combined to end that revelry as North Point produced a stop and the junior quarterback hit Trevon Alderson for a 43-yard touchdown just before the end of the third quarter to restore a two-score lead. In the fourth, Hart ran in a score to close things out for good.
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