Playoff Contenders Open with Scrimmage
Photo By: Anna Bloomer / GamedayMD.com
BY ADAM CHASEN
GAITHERSBURG, MD - Two football programs that both made the second round of the state playoffs in 2009, got their first chance to strap on the pads and hit someone other than their own team, on Friday evening. The Paint Branch Panthers travelled over to Quince Orchard to kick off the preseason with some live scrimmage action on a steamy August evening.
Quince Orchard finished an undefeated regular season in 2009, only to see their state title dreams fall short in the second round of the playoffs against a loaded Liganore squad. Paint Branch fought for respect all year long and squeezed their way into the playoffs and found a way to win the school's first ever playoff game before falling in round two as well. Both schools return several strong contributors from last year's squads, but are still searching for guys to fill in key positions and gel together as a unit.
On the Quince Orchard side, several quick hits were made in the passing game lead by senior quarterback Drew Murphy; along with a pair of deep seem passes that went the distance against the Paint Branch zone. Running back Ben Sasu has graduated for the Cougars, and junior Mark Green and senior James McAllister, are getting acclimated as the lead backs. Both backs ran hard and stuck their noses in whenever necessary in pass protection, but there is still need for improvement if Quince Orchard is to allow the passing game the necessary time to develop. The Cougar Offensive line showed signs, but consistency and leverage will be an area Coach Mencarini and his coaching staff will be working on.
Paint Branch came out strong to start the scrimmage defensively, doing a very good job of stuffing plays up the middle and generally being disruptive in the Cougar backfield. As the scrimmage wore on a few deep shots down the field from Quince Orchard found some space between defensive backs and Coach Nesmith will look to sure up his deep coverage.
Offensively, junior Bene't Willis returns as the team's starting running back and showed glimpses of his star power. The Cougar defense did a solid job of swarming him and not allowing him to break too many tackles and get to the outside where he can use his speed and be especially dangerous. Senior Panther quarterback David Smith let it fly from start to finish during the scrimmage and connected on a few, one in particular a spectacular catch in traffic from receiver Irving Anuba. Overall the Panthers passing game struggled, mostly due to the swarming coverage of the Quince Orchard defensive backs. The Cougars DB's did an excellent job of playing their technique and using their ball skills to disrupt plays without making unnecessary contact with Panther receivers. The Quince Orchard pass rush that dominated nearly every game in 2009 seemed a bit rusty and defensive coordinator John Kelley will have his hands full filling in those roles as preseason continues.
After the scrimmage both Coach Dave Mencarini from Quince Orchard and Coach Mike Nesmith from Paint Branch took some time to speak with Gameday and here is what each coach had to say:
