Laurel High Football Falls In Its Home Opener

It is was more than 30 minutes before kickoff, but two-way lineman Demont Cook of Laurel High was ready to play.

"Let's get it, fellas!" Cook hollered to his teammates, after going through some pregame drills at Kirby Field on a sun-splashed Monday afternoon in Laurel.

Laurel, facing Bladensburg in its first home game, got off to a strong start. The Spartans took the opening kickoff to their own 48, but on the third play lost a fumble inside the Bladensburg 30 yard line.

Cook, the energetic defensive end, partially blocked Bladensburg's first punt a few minutes later. But Laurel never found its groove on offense and lost, 20-0, to the Mustangs after a scoreless first half before a good-sized crowd on Cherry Lane.

"We had a few shots, but we could not punch it in," said Laurel first-year head coach Todd Sommerville in his first home game at the helm. "It was a tale of two halves."

Laurel could have taken the lead in the second quarter, but Jovan Roberson had a possible interception fall through his hands with plenty of open space between him and the end zone.

Most of the public school games in Prince George's County were pushed back from Saturday to Monday due to wet fields. Laurel was aiming for a rare 2-0 start to the season following a win at High Point to begin 2011.

But Bladensburg, now 2-0 for the first time in years, got a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. "We lost our momentum," Sommerville said.

The Mustangs then got a 22-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, plus a two-point conversion, to make it 14-0. A 55-yard interception return by the Mustangs made it 20-0 later in the fourth quarter.

"We kind of ran out of gas," said Sommerville, a former assistant at Parkdale High who doubles as the defensive coordinator for Laurel.

Laurel, with a no-huddle offense, started Jarvis McClam at quarterback, where he completed three of eight passes for 39 yards with one interception. Joel Roberson was the Laurel quarterback in the second half, and he completed five of 13 passes for 89 yards and one interception.

Joel Roberson ran six times for 46 yards, McClam ran seven times for 36 yards and Jovan Roberson, Joel's brother, ran seven times for 35 yards. Tyler Harmon caught three passes, Patrick Holmes caught two for 54 yards, Joel Roberson caught one for 16 yards and John Ketum and Malik Harvin each had a catch for the Spartans.

Laurel also used more than one quarterback last year, including Zane Carroll, now a freshman at Bowie State. And Sommerville has used more than one quarterback in each of the first two games. "It is a game-time decision. We like Jarvis. We like Joel. It is who we feel has the hot hand," he said.

Laurel (1-1) will play Saturday at Bowie High, which lost, 35-7, to county power Eleanor Roosevelt on Monday. Roosevelt hosts Wise High on Saturday. "They are very similar to us on offense," Sommerville said of Bowie. "They have some big kids up front."

The Spartans were 1-9 last year and 6-24 in the previous three seasons from 2008-10. Bladensburg also won last year at Laurel, which has not had a winning season since 1997.

Pallotti Prep, in its second game of the season, lost Saturday at Severn School, 31-6, in Anne Arundel County. Pallotti Prep had two players ejected and Severn had one ejected following an altercation in the first half, according to Rick Diggs, the commissioner of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA).

"I was there. It was unfortunate," Diggs told Patch on Tuesday. "These things happen in football."

Diggs said due to MIAA policy, the two Pallotti players (quarterback Rafi Correa and wideout Chaz Pittman, a transfer from Oakland Mills in Columbia) and the Severn player will have to miss the next game since they were ejected. Diggs said the league could make the suspension for two games since there was physical contact between the players.

The Panthers (1-1) play Saturday at Pope John Paul The Great Catholic High School in Northern Virginia.

Prep notes: The Pallotti Prep volleyball team won Monday at Elizabeth Seton in Bladensburg, three games to two. The Panthers won the first two games before Seton came back to take games three and four. Pallotti Prep won game five, 15-12, and improved to 5-1 on the season. Senior middle hitter Judy Onyegbado led Pallotti Prep with 12 kills, senior outsider hitter Victoria Johnson had 11 kills and eight digs and junior libero Carissa Hill had 12 digs ... Dylan Haversack and Carlitos Figueroa scored for Greater Laurel United Soccer Club U-19 boys in a 3-2 loss on Sunday to Western Howard County. Jeffrey Sanchez and William Haversack aided the Laurel defense.