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"It's good to have a six-back rotation now," Mayo said. "With Raymone and Reggie being out, that allowed some of our younger guys to get some experience. We've tried to develop more depth in the backfield."

Wilson and Woods both had touchdowns as Flowers beat Eleanor Roosevelt, 22-13. Meanwhile, Roosevelt finds itself with a bit of an identity crisis.

For much of this decade, the Raiders have been a perennial playoff team and have been a Class 4A state championship contender for many of those years. But two years removed from residential eligibility violations that forced the Raiders to miss the playoffs and ultimately lead coach Rick Houchens to leave the school, the Roosevelt is 6-3 and players are questioning themselves.

"We just need a win to boost our self-esteem," said Raiders' senior Dominic Shepard. "It's like we don't feel that we're a good team anymore, just an average team. We started to feel that way when we lost to Bowie. Everybody got down on themselves. [Saturday against Flowers] when we got behind, I could feel everybody on the bench just get down."

Raiders' senior Richard Aiyegoro said the team is in need of a reality check.

"I think we all need to get on the same page," Aiyegoro said in the locker room after Saturday's game. "As you can see, people are acting like we didn't just lose. I don't like losing. We're still a playoff team, everybody has got to stay positive and keep rolling."

Suitland's four-headed monster

During Suitland's 39-6 senior day victory against Parkdale, the Rams rotated the ball between running backs Kevin Williams, Dontrewell Kelley, Anthony Norman and Keith Brown. No matter who was taking handoffs from quarterback Devonte' Lindsey, the result was more or less the same.

Each of those four scored a touchdown and picked up at least 39 yards on the ground, leading Lindsey to refer to as the offensive unit as "very versatile."

To coach Ed Shields, distributing the ball between all four running backs exemplified a team philosophy he said the coaching staff has been instilling all season.

"We tell everybody that everybody on the team is accountable," Shields said. "They know that when you get your chance, you have to make plays."

Winning the time of possession battle

Central High's 50th homecoming celebration couldn't have gone better, as the Falcons snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-0 win against Surrattsville. The home fans didn't see a lot of offensive fireworks, but they saw plenty of their offense, which was on the field for all but 4 minutes of the second half.

In the final two quarters, the Falcons ran 34 plays to Surrattsville's six, which was a big reason why the Hornets' running game didn't get into gear. Surrattsville's David Jones scored on 65-plus yard touchdown runs in two consecutive games, but only got three carries against Central because he was on the sideline for nearly the entire second half.

Special teams not so special

The Gwynn Park special teams, especially the punt return team, didn't play well in the Yellow Jackets' 35-20 victory against Potomac on Saturday afternoon. Gwynn Park fumbled three punt returns and lost two.

Khalek Sheperd fumbled a punt return in the first quarter, but the ball bounced into the hands of teammate Brian Blue. But Blue wasn't so lucky on the next punt return, as he caught the ball in front of Shepherd and turned up field, but fumbled, and Potomac recovered.

Blue said his coaches told him to go after the ball if he had a chance.

"I think it was a bit of miscommunication between me and Shepherd," he said. "I didn't hear Shepherd call for the ball, so I went after it myself."

Blue stayed away from the next punt return, but it didn't matter, as Shepherd fumbled the ball deep in Gwynn Park territory.

Last game for the seniors

In the aftermath of Friday's 27-7 setback against Annapolis Area Christian School, Pallotti coach Pat Courtemanche and sophomore running back Matt Defrank quickly turned their attention to this week's contest against Friends School. The Panthers will celebrate senior night at 7 p.m. Friday at Fairland Regional Park in Laurel.

"We're looking forward to playing Friends again and winning that one for the seniors on senior night," said Defrank, who rushed for 27 yards on 11 carries against Annapolis Christian. "I have two more years, but that will be the last game for our seniors. It will be good to win that one for them. We just have to put this one behind us. [Annapolis Christian] got the breaks in the third quarter. Everything went their way. We just have to come out and play hard for the seniors on Friday."

The victory enabled the Eagles to clinch the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference title. A Pallotti victory would have given both teams a share of the title, and the Panthers watched the Eagles celebrate. But Courtemanche wanted to put the game behind him before getting on the team bus. Pallotti turned its attention this week to Friends, which Pallotti defeated 42-35 in their first meeting this season.

"Now it's all about the seniors," Courtemanche said. "I have to give those guys credit. We started 1-4 and got to 4-4 before [Friday]. A lot of teams we had here in the past would have given up on me at 1-4. Now we want to win the last game for the seniors. That group put in a lot of work. It would have been nice to win a league title, but for them to finish 5-5 and have a non-losing record is the goal right now."