State Football Title For GORC 70-Pounders, UMBC Coach Honored

  The GORC Wildcats 5-7 (70-pound) team truly have had a championship season.            

GORC won the Anne Arundel County title last month. The Wildcats then went into the Maryland Youth State Foootball tournament and rolled through that, capping a great season with a 14-0 victory over Pax River Black last weekend.            

That game was played at Georgetown Prep in Montgomery County and wrapped up a perfect season for GORC, who did just about everything right this fall. The Wildcats beat Pax River Silver and the Warriors in their first two games in the state tournament.            

Cliff Luber was GORC's coach this season.            

"It's the second team in [Anne Arundel County] history that's won a state title," said Anne Arundel Youth Football president Rick Peacock. "It's the first for GORC. They've got good coach and a nice team, and we're happy for them." 

Odenton Resident Honored By UMBC           

Another big recent success came for Chad Cradock, the swimming coach and director of aquatics at the UMBC.  The Odenton resident recent was honored with one of the schools Outstanding Alumni awards.

Cradock came to UMBC to swim from Ontario and competed for the Retrievers for four years until graduating in 1997. He then took over as an assistant coach before becoming the head coach in 2001.            

UMBC has become a true swimming powerhouse on the East Coast. The Retrievers have won nine straight conference titles for men and four for women. He's also won a number of Coach of the Year honors.

In addition, Cradock has helped push the school's club team for kids ages 7-18 to another level. That's a very popular local swimming program for children throughout the metro area and something which can be used as a nice recruiting tool for the Retrievers.            

It's also why Cradock comes up with some very long days. He'll often get to the Catonsville campus as early as 6 a.m. and leave after dinner. But this is the sport he loves.          

Cradock gave almost all of the credit to those around him after getting the award. He said getting help from his solid coaching staff and the various departments at the school are a big reason he gets noticed.            

"It is why I am where I am – because of the people around me," Cradock said. "It's allowed me to get that recognition. I have a great staff. It's just a combination of everybody involved that has allowed us to be successful. "