North Carroll High School coach Jeff Oeming had his hands full this season. So full that he might have simply not worried about The Baltimore Sun's request to keep the sports staff informed about how his team was doing.

But every Monday or Tuesday morning the email arrived containing the team stats from the previous weekend's game. And then this week, the final compilation.

Doesn't sound like a big deal. And if it had been any of The Sun's Top 15 teams it wouldn't have been, because when a team is doing well, a coach wants everyone to know and doesn't mind showing off the stats.

But North Carroll wasn't doing well. It won just two of 10 games this season. A true disappointment for a team that was 8-2 the year before and had gone to the playoffs for the first time 30 years.

But Oeming kept sending his stats.

"I'm proud of my team," he said in way of explanation on the phone last night. "We played a very tough schedule. We had injuries. And we seemed to stumble out of the gate. But we led or came from behind to lead in six of our 10 games. We just weren't very big and it seemed to wear on us as the games went on. We just couldn't put them away or extend our leads."

In 32 years of coaching, three at North Carroll, Oeming said this was the worst season he can remember - and not just because of losing games. At the end of this school year, North Carroll will lose half of its student body to newly built Manchester Valley

"It was unique," Oeming said. "We were coming off our first playoff year and looking at the impending split of our student body. Teams lose their seniors at the end of every years, but a lot of the younger players we had this year knew it would be their last season here, too. Many of them had parents who had played here, whose entire families had gone to school here."

Next year, half of North Carroll's ninth and 10th grades will be at Manchester.

"It was an unusual season and our players played with a lot of pride in our school," said the coach.

North Carroll was anchored by three-year starter, senior Dylan Ewen, who played offensive tackle and filled in wherever needed on the defensive line, "He was all over the place," said Oeming, who also got sound play from senior quarterback Casey Mann and two fast senior receivers, Zach Westfall and Carlyle Smith, who showed good speed to the outside.

"Usually, right now you're looking at your ninth graders, your freshmen and junior varsity and starting to make plans for what you want to get done in the off season," said the coach who expects his team will be classified as 2A next season. "But a lot of these guys aren't going to be here. They're going to be going to a brand new school."

What next year holds is unclear, but Oeming said he knows he can count on one important thing next season, a group of players with spirit who will take pride in their school.

Under the circumstances, who could ask for more.

-- Sandra McKee