POLL: Montgomery County Patch High School Football GOTW (Week 4)

Which Week 4 high school football game should be featured as the Patch Game of the Week in Montgomery County?

The Quince Orchard Cougars rolled over Paint Branch in a matchup of unbeaten teams in the Week 3 Montgomery County Patch Game of the Week. Will a new team be featured for the second consecutive week or will the Cougars reign continue? Quince Orchard (3-0 overall, 0-0 division) plays host to Montgomery 4A West division rival Northwest (2-1, 1-0). Northwest is coming off a 55-0 win over Magruder and its only loss came on the road in Week 2 against undefeated Seneca Valley. Seneca Valley (3-0, 2-0) travels to Potomac for Week 4's only matchup of unbeaten teams as the Screaming Eagles take on the Churchill Bulldogs (3-0, 3-0). Other games involving teams above .500 this week include Einstein (2-1, 1-1) at Damascus (3-0, 1-0) and Poolesville (2…

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Quince Orchard-Paint Branch Wins Game of the Week Poll

Matchup of unbeaten teams edges Walter Johnson-Springbrook.

Move aside, Watkins Mill, there's a new big cat in town. After the Wolverines were featured in the first two Montgomery County Patch Games of the Week, the Quince Orchard Cougars have won the week 3 poll for its Friday night matchup against Paint Branch. Quince Orchard-Paint Branch, which won 35 percent of the vote, is one of only two games featuring unbeaten teams this week. The other is Wootton-Damascus, which won only 7 percent. Walter Johnson-Springbrook was week 3's runner up with 21 percent of the vote. The Cougars are coming off a 55-0 drubbing of Montgomery Blair in week 2 and a convincing 28-12 win over Sherwood to open the season. Paint Branch has easily handled two Rockville schools, first defeating Rockville High School 41-18, …

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MCPS Considers Countywide Concussion Testing

Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr announced Tuesday that Montgomery County Public Schools is considering a district-wide baseline testing program for student athletes.

With concussions on the rise among high school and collegiate athletes, Montgomery County Public Schools is investigating a program to try to do something about it. MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr announced Tuesday that MCPS is considering a district-wide baseline testing program to assist in identifying student athletes who suffer concussions and to help in determining when they can safely return to the playing field, according to a news release. Starr told the Montgomery County Board of Education that MCPS will request proposals from outside providers that can administer and maintain the baseline testing program, according to the release. MCPS also will form a work group to determine what information should be included in the request. “…

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POLL: Montgomery County Patch High School Football GOTW (Week 3)

Which Week 3 high school football game should be featured as the Patch Game of the Week in Montgomery County?

Could the Watkins Mill Wolverines varsity football squad be Montgomery County Patch readers' favorite team?  Through the first two weeks of the season, it appears that way. Watkins Mill has been voted as the Montgomery County Patch High School Football Game of the Week for it's week 1 win over Poolesville and week 2 loss to Damascus.  Might this be the week a new team is featured or will Patch follow Watkins Mill out to Blake High School as it tries to avoid a second consecutive loss? Paint Branch at Quince Orchard and Damascus at Wootton mark the only matchups of unbeaten teams in week 3. Voting for week 3 games is currently open and will close at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. The game selected as week 3's game of the week will be announced Friday…

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Watkins Mill-Damascus Wins Game of the Week Poll

Edges Northwest-Seneca Valley, the Battle for Germantown.

For the second week in a row, Watkins Mill football support poured in to upset a marquee matchup in the Patch Montgomery County Football Game of the Week Poll. With 41 percent of the vote, Watkins Mill-Damascus will be featured as the Patch Game of the Week. Gaithersburg-Springbrook was second with 18 percent and the highly anticipated Battle for Germantown between Northwest and Seneca Valley finished third with 13 percent. The Wolverines are coming off a 42-14 win over Poolesville in Week 1 and head coach Kevin Watson said a win over Damascus would be a breakthrough win for his program. PREVIEW: Watkins Mill v. Damascus Damascus (1-0) is coming off a 41-6 drubbing of Clarksburg. The Gazette's No. 3-ranked team scored all of its points in …

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MPSSAA Hosts Eligibility, Recruiting Webinar

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association is launching a new initiative to teach parents, coaches and students the ins and outs of college athletics.

The state's governing body of high school athletics is striving to make the transition to college easier on student-athletes. The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association has put together a program to help families and schools better understand the process of college recruiting and eligibility. The service is provided through The Recruiting Education Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization. "We are happy to provide this informational program to our student-athletes and their families at no cost," MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks said in a news release. "We highly encourage anyone who has aspirations of playing sports in college to watch this webinar. It is an outstanding first step in properly educating parents and …

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Montgomery County Parents Push to Raise Concussion Awareness

Following a personal tragedy, a Germantown mother is putting her efforts into raising awareness about the dangers of concussions.

A Germantown mother who lost her son is working to raise awareness about the seriousness of head injuries in contact sports like football.  Kristen Sheely’s son Derek sustained a head injury during football practice at Frostburg State University in August 2011. Later, doctors determined he had received a previous undocumented head injury. He died one week later at age 22.  “We’ve been working ever since to try and raise awareness of concussions,” Sheely said, referring to her and her husband’s nonprofit organization, the Derek Sheely Foundation. “We knew we had to do something to help others.”  Maryland recently passed new regulations requiring that athletic coaches receive training to identify serious head injuries, but Sheely doesn’t …

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Landon Boys Lacrosse Trounces Georgetown Prep, 8-4

The Little Hoyas couldn't get ahead in Wednesday afternoon's game.

Einstein Girls Basketball Showing Signs of Improvement

Freshman Daisa Harris has given the Titans a much-needed boost.

Entering this season, there were plenty of reasons to assume that the Albert Einstein High School girls basketball team was bound for another hapless campaign. But even though last year’s squad managed just two victories and lost MVP Ann-Marie Gabriel to graduation, coach Tim Hobbs knew help was on the way. Freshman point guard Daisa Harris, who turned heads last year while leading her Newport Mill Middle School team to an undefeated season, has stepped into a starring role early in her high school career. With Harris’ ball-handling skills and athleticism leading the way, the Titans (4-11, 4-5 Montgomery 3A/2A) matched last season’s win total six games into this year’s schedule and hope to carry that momentum forward through the end of …

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Karver Is New Boys Basketball Coach at Walter Johnson

Former B-CC star, Maryland Terp and pro hoopster faces new challenges as a coach.

Mark Karver, a basketball legend at Bethesda-Chevy Chase in the mid-1980s, is back on the county high school hoops circuit again — this time as head coach at Walter Johnson. Karver, still the all-time leader in points scored and rebounds at B-CC, led the Barons to the state championship at Cole Field House in 1984, then went on to play college ball at Maryland and George Washington before playing 11 years of professional basketball in Israel and Europe. He returned to the United States a few years ago and now is a fourth-grade math and science teacher at North Chevy Chase Elementary School. He had coached the junior varsity at B-CC for five seasons. And Karver has a highly-regarded and veteran coach helping him as an assistant with the …

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