Dunbar: Good and getting even better
When the state football championship games are played later this week, Dunbar will go into M&T Bank Stadium with the distinction of being the only area team to have improved its scoring and defensive numbers in the postseason.
The Poets averaged 42.3 points in 10 regular season games, while allowing 9.8 points ( 6.6 over the past nine). In postseason play, their production has increased by about a touchdown per game, at 48.9 points, while the defense has cut a point from the oppositions' total, to 8.7.
"Everyone looks at our skill players," said Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith after his team's 48-12 victory Saturday over Catoctin. "But it is our offensive and defensive lines that are the key. We have five guys [on each side of the ball] dedicated to doing what they have to do and they are controlling the game."
Also on Saturday, top-ranked and defending 2A state champion River Hill will face No. 4 Eastern Tech, as each put their 13-0 records on the line at 3:30 p.m. This game is a rematch of last season's thriller that River Hill won, 14-7.
No. 3 Dunbar (12-1) faces Allegany County's Fort Hill (11-1), which comes in with a strong reputation, in the 1A final at noon Sudnay. Dunbar is the two-time defending champion and looking to become only the second team in the metro area to win three straight titles.
If it does, it will join No. 6 Wilde Lake (2-1), which did it from from 1990 to 1992. The Wildecats are going for their sixth state title overall, this time in 3A competition against Charles County's Westlake (10-2).
So far, in games involving area teams, none of the games leading up to these finals have been close. The primary reason for that appears to be the potent offenses of each team, but the defenses should not be overlooked.
Of the four area teams, only Wilde Lake has allowed its opposition to score in double digits, giving up an average of 12.5 points during the regular season and continuing the trend in the postseason, allowing 15.0.
River Hill was the area's highest scoring team in the regular season, with a 46.4 points per game average, and it also had the stingiest defense, with six shutouts and a 2.8 points-per-game average. But in the postseason, the Hawks' scoring has been held down to 29.7 points in three playoff games, and its points allowed number has increased to 8.7.
River Hill's opponent Saturday, Eastern Tech has also seen its scoring numbers drop, from 41.5 a game to 31.3, while its defense has remained tight, allowing 5.8 points in the regular season and 6.0 in postseason.
Dunbar though, continues to be on the upswing. The question is: Can the Poets control the offensive and defensive lines for one more game and bring home its third straight 1A title?
Catoctin coach Doug Williams didn't seem to have much doubt after his team's 48-12 loss Saturday.
"All I can say is that Fort Hill better come prepared to play four quarters," he said. "Dunbar is the real deal."
Though Smith said going back to the championship game for a third time will be like "going home for us," there is no chance the coach will allow his team to take anything for granted. Saturday's game was just over when he gathered his players around him and bellowed:
"They [Fort Hill] want it [the championship]," he said, so all his players could hear. "They want it and they're going to bring it. Is it understood? IS . . IT . . UNDERSTOOD?"
The Poets, who played their semifinal game on the Poly football field, voiced their understanding and then did a group cheer before running to their bus for the ride back to Dunbar.
"There are a lot of us seniors on this team," said linebacker Horace Miller, one of 27 seniors. "We want to go out with a bang and leave it all on the field. We've been well prepared all season. ... It doesn't matter who is in the game, all it is is football. So long as we keep doing what we're told to do and what we do in practice we'll have success."
Comments
Three consecutive Class 1A state football championships, indeed.
A national study shows a typical high school senior has a 3% chance he will receive some type of financial assistance playing college football the following year.
Yet, rivals.com considers a whopping 37% of Dunbar's 27 seniors to be NCAA Division I or II football prospects.
On this unnatural disparity, my questions are many: How can a school with an enrollment of only 322 students legitimately field a team like that? Is Dunbar recruiting only the best football players from across the city? The state? If so, how does the school's recruiting practices differ from those disallowed by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA)?
In my mind's eye, the MPSSAA needs to do more to ensure a level playing field across its four size classifications.
Posted by: Bill Burton | December 1, 2008 11:26 AM
Dunbar Poets should be removed from Maryland Public Schools competition. They are a magnet school, which allows them to recruit from all over the area. It is an unfair advantage. I would like to see the percentages of Dunbar high graduates that play college sports vs actual college graduates. What is the purpose of Dunbar High School? Prep for the NBA and NFL!
Posted by: Bmoreballer | December 1, 2008 2:15 PM
THERE IS NOTHING MUCH TO SAY BUT...... GOOOOOOOOO POETS!!!
THESE BOYS, I MEANT YOUNG MEN WORK HARD ALL YEAR. ON THE FIELD AND IN THE CLASSROOM. JUST BE PROUD , I SURE AM!!!
Posted by: MOM OF A POET | December 1, 2008 6:03 PM
Dear Mom, I'd be proud of your young men, too. The issue, however, is not whether they work hard in the classroom and on the field.
Rather, the Poets are competing against schools that must field a varsity team from the boys who live in a specific geographic district. For most MD public schools, transfers are few and far between. And MPSSAA has rules in place to ensure enrollments stay this way.
Apparently, a magnet school such as Dunbar can get around these geographic and transfer limitations. To make matters worse, the Poets compete in Class 1A against Maryland's smallest schools. It's amazing that some of these schools can even field a team.
Take, for example, Dunbar's latest... ummm... victim. According to MPSSAA's latest figures, Catoctin has an enrollment of 770 kids... assume half are female and half the boys are underclassmen. They're left with less than 200 junior and senior boys. Now, some of them play varsity soccer and run cross-country. Only about 150 boys remain.
To simply field a full team, the football coach must hope one out of four or five of these young men have a desire and are fit enough to play the sport. How many will be good enough to play in college? According to a national study, maybe one or two.
Now, does it seem fair to you that your young men play these teams in the state tournament? With these built-in advantages in mind, a Dunbar "three-peat" would ring a bit hollow for me.
Perhaps an easy way to level the playing field is to bump Dunbar and other magnet schools up to the highest size classification. Class 4A schools can't recruit outside their geographic area either, but at least the football coaches pull from student populations (in the 1300 - 2200 range) which are two to three times the size of 1A populations.
Posted by: Bill Burton | December 2, 2008 11:09 AM
Bill makes a good point,regarding the number of young men to pull from. Keep in mind though that of the 501 students Dunbar has to choose from a sizable portion of these young people are women. So in essence the same argument made for a local small school can also apply to Dunbar. Furthermore, City and Poly are also "Citywide" schools but no one suggest they move up and both of those schools are 2A.
I think the key is not so much of where Dunbar gets their kids from, but rather what they do with the kids. As was mentioned Dunbar has a more difficult admission process than other "local" or "neighborhood" schools because they are a "citywide" school. So in a way they may miss out on talented athletes because of them not meeting the academic requirments.
All of this is to say that there are some things that are in place to even the playing field regarding the quality of players coming to the school. I encourage the other teams to continue to compete, and encourage Dunbar to continue to succeed. Being a product of the BCPSS I am always pleased by their success. It's not a question of fairness, because it's equally fair when other citywide schools compete at the level of their school sizes. Congrats Poets on another successful season and good luck to all the kids who are playing for a state championship.
Posted by: Huey Garvey | December 3, 2008 4:33 PM
If Dunbar wasn't winning, you would't hear a peep from these folks. Little do these people know that there are only about 200 boys total at Dunbar. There are plenty of magnet schools in the state of Maryland but you rarely hear anything about them. Want to know why? Because they aren't winning championships.
Posted by: Tired of the haters | December 12, 2008 7:19 PM