Springbrook: Devils to make away-from-home improvements

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo naomi brookner⁄the gazette Senior WR⁄DB Nick Oates and teammates want to make sure they finish what they start this year.

‘‘We’d like to improve and go to the playoffs,” Wendel said. ‘‘To do that we might need to knock off one of those traditional powerhouse teams — beat a Sherwood, beat a Damascus [on Oct. 27]. Now, whether we have the kind of a team that’ll do something like that, I don’t know. Right now, we look very average and that’s why we really need to work hard.”

Most of the more experienced players are on defense, especially in the defensive backfield with seniors Nick Oates, a three-year starter who also plays wide receiver on offense, Jordan Dow and Adou Kouadio, a cornerback who was All-Gazette honorable mention last year. The coaches said they are impressed that Kouadio lifted weights throughout the summer and got noticeably stronger. He’ll be a very good defender against the pass. ‘‘The truth is, we’re not real big,” Wendel said. ‘‘We have speed, but there’s no depth.” The bigger veterans are the linebackers: Kevin Robinson, a senior transfer from Blake is a welcomed addition, as well as juniors Carlo Galeano and Darius Hill.

Wendel described Hill as ‘‘big, athletic and quiet, with a nose for the ball,” was great last year. As a sophomore who started in all of the games, he wound up making 70 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Soon after a rough first game loss to Sherwood, Hill said that he got on a roll. ‘‘Once you realize you can play at the varsity level, you get a lot of confidence,” he said. ‘‘And then the feeling of a losing makes you want to get out there again, right away. That gave me the drive to compete.”

If the defense can hold its ground, then the Blue Devils can afford to be patient in rebuilding the offense, and they’ll need to be. They have a few returning receivers — seniors Oates, Ben Simmons and Dom Omatade, but more important is what they no longer have: experience at quarterback.

Throughout the practices and scrimmages, Butler-Poole and Cremona-Simmons, a transfer from Blake, have been competing to take quarterback role, but Oates said that it’s still undecided. ‘‘Phoenix is young and has a lot of potential,” he said. ‘‘He’s very composed. You wouldn’t think he’s a sophomore, the way he handles himself. Stephen thinks on the run a little better. He’s had that experience.”

Fittingly, Oates said that the players have been busy ever since last season ended to get in shape for this year. ‘‘This summer has been different,” he said. ‘‘We’ve worked harder because we don’t want conditioning problems again. Last year, we’d play about half a game. If you just ended the game at halftime, we’d have won eight of the 10.”

Instead, they split the 10 games, including wins over Blake and Paint Branch to take the Northeast Consortium Cup.

Devils’ den

Head oach: Rob Wendel, 2nd year (5-5 record)

League affiliation: Montgomery 4A East

Last year’s record: 5-5

Last playoff appearance: 2003 (11th)

Last state title: 1989 (6th)

Players to watch: WR⁄DB Nick Oates, LB⁄RB Darius Hill, LB⁄RB Kevin Robinson

2005 results

Sept. 9 — Sherwood (L), 42-13Sept. 16 — Blair (L), 12-7Sept. 23 — Einstein (W), 22-6Sept. 30 — Paint Branch (W), 29-7Oct. 7 — Blake (W), 20-0Oct. 14 — Churchill (L), 17-0Oct. 22 — Whitman (W), 14-7Oct. 28 — Damascus (L), 21-6Nov. 5 — Richard Montgomery (W), 18-15Nov. 11 — Watkins Mill (L), 27-0

2006 schedule

Sept. 9 — Sherwood, 2 p.m.Sept. 16 — at Blair, 2 p.m.Sept. 21 — at Einstein, 6:30 p.m.Sept. 29 — at Paint Branch, 6:30 p.m.Oct. 7 — vs. Blake at Paint Brach , 2 p.m.Oct. 14 — vs. Churchill at Paint Branch, 2 p.m.Oct. 20 — at Whitman, 6:30 p.m.Oct. 27 — at Damascus, 6:30 p.m.Nov. 4 — vs. R. Montgomery at Kennedy, 2 p.m. Nov. 10 — at Watkins Mill, 6:30 p.m.