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Schedule

Friday, Aug. 29

Pallotti 7, St. John's Catholic Prep 6

Friday, Sept. 5

Central at Forest Park, 5 p.m.

Edmonston-West. at Friendly, 6:30 p.m.

Southern at Largo, 6:30 p.m.

Potomac at McKinley, 7 p.m.

Crossland at Boonsboro, 7 p.m.

Forestville at Bel Air, 7 p.m.

Douglass at Hereford, 7 p.m.

DeMatha at Middletown (Del.), 7 p.m.

Bowie vs. Laurel at High Point, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 6

Surrattsville at Samuel Banks, 1 p.m.

St. Mary's Ryken at McNamara, 2 p.m.

Bladensburg at Flowers, 2 p.m.

Riverdale Baptist at Fairmont Hts., 2 p.m.

Eleanor Roosevelt at DuVal, 2 p.m.

High Point at Wise, 2 p.m.

Oxon Hill at Northwestern, 2 p.m.

Suitland at Parkdale, 2 p.m.

Dunbar at Gwynn Park, 2 p.m.

Pallotti at Bullis, 7 p.m.

Bowie vs. Laurel: These two County 4A rivals will do battle under the lights at High Point on Friday, each with first-year coaches. Brian Moore takes over a downtrodden Laurel program after two years as its head JV coach. The Spartans have been among the lower-echelon teams in the league, and a win against Bowie would be a big boost for the start of the season. The Bulldogs are under new head coach Pete Barham and are looking to erase the frustration of last season, when a late-season letdown cost them a shot at the playoffs after they had won their first five games.

Roosevelt at Duval: In another meeting of teams with new coaches, the Raiders will seek to put last year's forfeit-tainted season behind them as they meet the Tigers, who took advantage of last year's topsy-turvy season to qualify for the 4A South Region playoffs. The teams met in last year's season opener and the game was scoreless at halftime before Roosevelt pulled away for a 17-0 victory. The Raiders, now under Tom Green, are deep and talented, led by Penn State recruits Stephon Morris and Derrick Thomas. First-year DuVal coach Dameon Powell has a host of returning starters, including quarterback Jesse Henderson.

Suitland at Parkdale: This County 4A League showdown is a rematch of last year's 4A South Region title game, which Suitland won, 15-14. But much has changed for both teams. Suitland, which last fall had many holdovers from its 2006 state championship team, has no returning starters on offense. But its defense should be solid once again, led by Gazette-Star second team linebacker John Darr. Parkdale, meanwhile, is adjusting to its fifth head coach this decade. Rich Holzer took over the program in July and has just five starters returning from last year's team, which enjoyed a 9-1 regular season.

Dunbar (Baltimore) at Gwynn Park: A matchup of two of the state's stronger programs highlights the first weekend of the season. Baltimore City's Dunbar rolled to the Class 1A state title last year and boasts one of the state's top players in senior running back Tavon Austin. As a junior last year, he ran for 2,553 yards and

32 touchdowns and scored a total of 29 TDs. Gwynn Park had its season disrupted by six forfeits for ineligible player violations last year. But the Yellow Jackets remain one of the county's best and will counter with a deep running game of their own, led by Khalik Shepherd and Nigee Carmichael.

Stats and Streaks

St. Vincent Pallotti kicked off the new season on Friday with a 7-6 victory against St. Johns (D.C.). Trailing 6-0 through three quarters, the Panthers got a fourth-quarter touchdown run from Josh Eastman and an extra-point kick from Connor Smith to get the win. It also matched their win total from last season. Pallotti also won its opener in 2007, 26-6, against Hereford Tech.

Only six games this weekend involve county vs. county matchups. All 10 of the County 3A/2A/1A League teams will begin the season against non-county opponents. All of those games are on the road except for Largo, which will play host to Southern-Anne Arundel on Friday and Gwynn Park, which is at home Saturday against defending Class 1A state champion Dunbar-Baltimore.

Fairmont Heights opens its season Saturday against Riverdale Baptist in a rare public school vs. private school matchup for the county. The two teams also met last season in Week 7 with the Crusaders winning, 27-6.

Suitland enters the new campaign on a 19-game regular-season winning streak, having last lost to Frederick Douglass, 30-6, in the season opener in 2006. The last County 4A League game the Rams lost was on Oct. 24, 2005, to Charles H. Flowers, a 27-7 setback. They have won 22 consecutive league games in the regular season.