Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008
Hawks, Pats collide in classic matchup
By John Harris III | Staff Writer
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As the Urbana High football team found itself on the short end of last week's 17-15 decision at Westminster, Thomas Johnson had just finished suffered the same fate as its conference rival in a 49-34 shootout.
Tomorrow in Frederick, the visiting Hawks will look to get back on track against a talented, but somewhat snake-bitten squad.
"We know TJ is a very good team although they have three loses," said Urbana head coach Joe Polce. "We know how good they are, they had tough losses against two really good [league] teams [Linganore and Tuscarora] and a powerhouse from outside of the league [Mount St. Joseph's]."
Polce said that his team's fortunate bounces may have run its course against the Owls. The Hawks fell behind 17-3, and fought their way back with a chance to win the game on the final possession.
"We had a pass get deflected, and they made a really nice diving interception," Polce said. "We had some things go our way earlier in the season against Lackey and Martinsburg. Seems like things just sort of caught up with us."
Urbana will undoubtedly focus on TJ's athletic skill players.
"They have two legitimate Division I athletes with D.J. Scott (wide receiver-defensive back) and Nick Forbes (fullback–linebacker). Their quarterback [D.J. Jenkins] has been throwing the ball very well this year, and they have some guys who can make plays like number 11 [Victor Morgan] and number seven [Marquis Woodyard].
Urbana's Ross Flanigan has done yeoman's work for the Hawks, rushing for 476 yards and eight touchdowns in five games. Quarterback Jesse Heon has completed over half of his passes (41-81, 696 yards) but has thrown six interceptions versus three touchdowns. Paul Grabowski (258 yards, two touchdowns) and Brad Hickman (160 yards, one TD) have grabbed 15 passes each to lead the Hawks.
Defensively, defensive lineman Bobby Kmetz had four sacks.