Rockville Rout Gets 'Rines Back on Track

A look of long-awaited relief settled over Watkins Mill players and coaches Friday night as Coach Kevin Watson strode over to his team after their 40-0 domination of the Rockville Rams.

The Wolverines had suffered three exasperating losses in their previous three weeks—to Damascus, Blake and Clarksburg—by a total of 13 points. The Clarksburg game had been particularly painful: Down 7-6 in the fourth quarter, Watkins Mill drove the ball to the Coyotes’ 30-yard line with 1:16 to play, then came up a yard short on 4th down with three seconds left.

After that demoralizing stretch, an easy win over the lowly Rams was just the remedy Watkins Mill needed.

“Alright, guys, the monkey’s off our backs,” Watson told his team. “We can go ahead and play football the way we know how to play football.”

That they did Friday night, showing off the big-play ability that had given Watkins Mill aspirations of having their best season in a decade.

That opened things up for Deontray George, Watkins Mill’s versatile playmaker, who scored three touchdowns three ways in the season-opener. That explosiveness had been kept mostly under wraps in the Wolverines three losses. But with the playbook wide open against Rockville, the diminutive senior once again came up big.

After Marcus Addison’s fumble-recovery touchdown got Watkins Mill on the scoreboard, George helped get the offense going with touchdown catches in the first and second quarter. The first came on a screen pass from Patrick Schlosser, and when wide receiver Aziz Baby sprung him with a clutch block, George left a sea of defenders in his dust as he raced 54 yards to the end zone. His second touchdown came on a 26-yard pass from Schlosser that sent Watkins Mill into halftime with a 19-0 lead.

The second half brought more of the same for the Wolverines, with three scoring drives capped off by a 2-yard catch by Baby—his third TD in three games—followed by goal-line runs from Mike Offutt and Prodige Kikwata.

A week after the frustration of letting the Clarksburg game slip through their fingers, Friday night’s win brought team morale back to where it needs to be for Watkins Mill’s stretch run.

“Just to let all of it—all the steam, the criticism, all that stuff—just let it out the window and with my team get this W,” George said. “We just have to keep pushing it. We’re still in the fight for the playoffs, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The win moves Watkins Mill to 2-3 at the season’s midway point. Their hunt for a berth in the 3A playoffs continues with a home game Thursday night against a much-improved Einstein squad.