Chesapeake Bowl Brings All-Star Players to Edgewater

On Friday, all star football players who are high school seniors from schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, DC and Virginia will descend on Edgewater to play in the Chesapeake Bowl.

This is a game where top talent is selected from private schools in the participating states. The selected players will make a new team—one for the north (DE, NJ and PA) and one for the south (DC, MD, VA and WV).

They will play at  in Seahawks Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

John Wallpher is one of the organizers. He told Patch that Edgewater was picked to host the game because University of Maryland’s Byrd Stadium is undergoing renovations.

“We couldn’t have the actual game there, although we are running practices at Byrd,” Wallpher said.

Once Chesapeake Bowl organizers got word that Byrd was a no-go, they started looking at other venues in the region.

“We had three criteria: it needed to have a press box, turf field and lights,” Wallpher said.

He said they heard that Anne Arundel high schools had good fields, and then contacted the Anne Arundel County Recreation and Park department.

"We thought it would be easy to work with the host hotels, which are near the beltway. It became a good fit," he said.

Although it isn’t clear if there are any players from south county, one of the coaches heading up the "south" team is Lance Clellan.

“He’s one of our team staff, he is working all week,” Wallpher said.

The football season for the Seahawks has ended, so participation in the game doesn't interfere with South River's football program.

The organizers coaches and players will be out at the site early on Friday for a walk-through. Then they will take the players to the  in Edgewater for dinner.

Wallpher said that the proceeds from sales of the program will benefit the Mike Whittles Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer.

Wallpher said for the past 13 seasons, Whittles coached the Archbishop Spalding football team in Severn. Last January, Whittles was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, a particularly aggressive cancer that claims the majority of victims within the first year. Only 2 percent of patients make it five years out.

Writer Jon Buzby wrote in a MaxPreps article in October that Whittles led the Cavaliers to 70 wins and four of the last six “B” Conference champions.

“He's taken the private school from being a regularly-scheduled homecoming opponent to the most feared team in the conference,” Buzby wrote. “So feared, in fact, Spalding moved up to the 'A' Conference this season."

Wallpher said that each program sold at the Friday game will be a donation to Whittles’ foundation.

“I just talked to him on the phone a little while ago and he’s traveling and spending time with his family,” Wallpher said. “We have him in our thoughts and prayers. He is a great guy and he has given a lot to the community. For us, this bowl game isn’t just an all-star game, but something we can do for the community.”