Playoffs!

By Nate Sandstrom

Over the next two days, 64 high school football teams across the state of Maryland will take the field in a quest for a trip to M&T Bank Stadium on the first Saturday in December and the chance to take home one of four different state titles (Class 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A).

Inside those quests are plenty of intrigue as well. D.C. and Baltimore-area schools battle for bragging rights over which region is best, while county foes square-off in rematches of tight regular season contests.

River Hill, Dunbar, Quince Orchard and Damascus are all in and looking to defend their respective championships of last season. Eastern Tech and Arundel are also back in the tournament looking for the titles they came oh so close to capturing last season.

Despite the dreary rain and cold today tomorrow should be good football weather, with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-60s if you're looking for some football to catch live. A run down on some games of note:

# = Max Preps state ranking, team, (County, team record and seed)

Class 4A
Friday 7 p.m.
• Wootton (Montgomery, 7-3, 3S) at #8 Quince Orchard (Montgomery, 9-1, 2S). Quince Orchard opens their title defense by facing-off against their season-opening opponent, Wootton. That one was a close contest, with the Cougars winning on the road 26-21. Quince Orchard also features a top-15 CB in Maryland recruit Travis Hawkins. They also have top-flight recruit DE Jason Ankrah. Wootton is riding a five-game win streak, but will need some big plays to pull an upset here.

Class 3A
Friday, 7 p.m.
• Damascus (Frederick, 7-3, 4W) at #16 Seneca Valley (Montgomery, 10-0, 1W). The only undefeated team in Class 3A will host the defending state champion in this strong first-round battle. Seneca Valley prevailed in a match-up of these team on Oct. 24 13-7 as Damascus' homecoming opponent. Seneca Valley scored on the first two possession of the game but had to hold off a late Damascus rally. The Screaming Eagles D has posted six shoutouts this season.

Class 2A
Friday, 7 p.m.
• #20 Gwynn Park (Pricne George's, 8-2, 4S) at #2 River Hill (Howard, 10-0, 1S). Hard to know who is going to complain about this draw more. In the talented 2A South region, Gwynn Park barely made the tourney at all despite topping #11 Dunbar in Baltimore in the season opener, shut-out state qualifier Friendly and took #18 Urbana to overtime before losing. All this and they get a team that has won 24 straight games since falling in the 2006 3A state title game to Friendly. Players to note include DT Raynard Randolph.

Not that River Hill is eager to see Gwynn Park in the first round. The Hawks have outscored opponents 464-28 this season and are widely-recognized as the best public school team in the state. However, some may question their strength of schedule. They've played just one team that qualfied for the state tourney, defeating #12 Wilde Lake 12-0. Still, the Hawks have a pair of backs already given scholarships to 1-A schools in Michael Campanaro and Malek Redd and combind with their stifling defense led by S/WR Leron Eaddy will still be favorites.

Class 1A
Saturday, 6 p.m.
Reginald Lewis (Baltimore City, 7-3, 2S) vs. W.E.B. DuBois (Baltimore City, 7-3, 3S) at Poly High (Baltimore). The Sun calls this game possibly the most even first-round game in the state; Lewis won the first meeting 6-3. Both defenses allow fewer than 10 ppg.

Also, the Sun faceoff today debates whether private school teams, which recruit, should be allowed to compete in state tournaments. I think the best answer is to have the private school champ take on the winner of a four-team playoff among the public school champs in kind of high school Super Bowl, though I'm sure some would say that would be way too long of a season for the kids. It would certainly hurt basketball at the schools that advance, but I would still like to see it.