Wolverines Flatten High-Scoring Einstein

The Wolverines D has, with little fanfare, been among Montgomery County’s most stubborn. Now, the Watkins Mill offense is roaring to life with the big-play punch that has had Wolverine supporters a-buzz over this season's possibilities.

Both sides of the ball were firing on all cylinders Thursday night in a convincing 26-6 triumph over Einstein, smothering a Titans squad that had scored the second-most points in Montgomery County.

The crucial 3A West win pulls Watkins Mill even at three wins and three losses—and puts them squarely back in the hunt for their first playoff spot in a decade.

Watkins Mill’s defense has stifled and stymied opponents from the get-go, giving up only 41 points their first five games. The offense, hampered by injuries to key players, has shown flashes under first-year quarterback Patrick Schlosser. Their first two victories came against winless opponents. In between, the Wolverines suffered excruciating defeats in which they proved they could play with the county’s better teams—but not that they could beat them.

Thursday’s resounding defeat of Einstein seemed to exorcise those demons, with Watkins Mill dominating nearly every facet of the game; forcing four turnovers, churning out sustained drives that chewed up the clock, and making highlight-reel plays that brought the crowd to its feet.

Deontray George put Watkins Mill on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the game with a 25-yard catch on which he made a deft adjustment to Schlosser’s throw that spun his defender around and created room for the catch. The senior found the end zone again midway through the 2nd quarter after he weaved through a sea of blocks for a 58-yard kick return touchdown. It was his second straight two-TD performance.

Though not straying too far from their big-play persona, Watkins Mill took a more methodical, grind-it-out approach against Einstein. The Wolverines' offensive line responded with their best performance of the season, gouging holes in Einstein’s defensive front that running back Mike Offutt exploited for 150 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

“This was their coming out party tonight,” Schlosser said. “Everything clicked today.”

But for all the offensive firepower, Thursday night’s win hinged more on the defensive side of the ball.

Einstein had powered to a 3-2 record on the strength of Montgomery County’s second-most prolific offense—their 138 points trailing only Quince Orchard’s 140.

The Titans attack took a serious blow at the outset when Ryan Ferguson, their 225-pound RB/LB, went out with an injury. Senior running backs Peter Ngoh and Elijah Thomas broke off big chunks of yardage in the first quarter, while Stephan Ucheomumu proved hard to chase down in the open field.

But Einstein managed only four offensive plays on Watkins Mill’s side of the field in the first half.

The defense came up big both times; Aziz Baby recovered a fumble with four-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, and Quentin Littlejohn hauled in an interception in the end zone with time expired.

Having forced four turnovers in the game— Littlejohn added his second interception and linebacker Troy Wood recovered a fumble—it was only fitting that it was the defense that set the game’s turning point in motion.

Watkins Mill had the ball and a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter. They drove deep into Einstein territory after Schlosser’s 38-yard pass to Jeffrey Adarkwa. But on 3rd and 4 from Einstein’s 21, Schlosser forced a pass up the right sideline that the Titans' Marcus Townsend picked off at the goal line.

After their early success getting Ngoh and Thomas into space early on, Einstein went back to that well on this crucial drive.

Adarkwa stopped Thomas for no gain on 1st down. Wood dropped Thomas for a three-yard loss on 2nd down. On 3rd and long from the Einstein 14, defensive lineman Karsten Bratt-Pfotenhauer broke into the Titans’ backfield, flushed quarterback Sean Loftus from the pocket and chased him down in the end zone, giving Watkins Mill a safety and a 9-0 lead.

On the very next play, Deontray George took the kick at his own 42-yard line, then dodged and darted his way downfield for the score. In little more than a minute, Watkins Mill’s defense turned a momentum-shifting turnover into a 16-point lead from which the Wolverines never looked back.

After this latest shutdown performance, the Wolverines’ defense stands as second stingiest in Montgomery County, behind only Seneca Valley.

“It’s heart, man; it’s all heart,” Troy Wood said. “We’re not the biggest, we’re not the strongest, we’re not the fastest. But we got the most heart out of any team in this county.”

That rock-steady defense, coupled now with the improving offense, has Watkins Mill heading in the right direction as they gear up for another 3A West match-up next week against a Northwood squad that has won three straight and sits ahead of them in the standings.

With three losses already, Watkins Mill can’t afford to falter. First on Coach Kevin Watson’s to-do list: the team’s propensity for penalties at the most inopportune times.

Heading into the Einstein game, four Watkins Mill touchdowns had been negated because of penalties, including a 35-yard touchdown in their five-point loss to Blake and a 65-yard touchdown in their one-point loss to Clarksburg.

Two more touchdowns were wiped out Thursday night: a 27-yard Offutt run in the 2nd quarter and a 41-yard George run in the 4th. The defense drew their share of drive-extending fouls, including a pair of penalties that nearly gifted Einstein a touchdown with no time left in the 2nd quarter.

“We’ve got some stuff to work on, there’s no doubt,” Watson said. “Those penalties, they’re killing us. They’re making us a mediocre team when, if we don’t have them, we’re a great team.”