With Atholton's win over Centennial Friday, the Raiders started off 3-0. That wouldn’t seem like a big deal with so much of the football season left, but the Raiders have now matched their win total for all of last season.

“Everybody’s real excited,” said Raiders’ senior Matt Robinson. “This is the first time Atholton’s gone 3-0 in at least 10 years. It’s a really big deal. We’re not looking to stop. We’re just looking to keep moving forward and getting better. I don’t think we’ve reached our potential at all.”

The Raiders started out with a 43-21 win over Reservoir then nipped Howard, 15-14, before beating the Eagles, 35-14, on Friday thanks to a pair of Ryan Raines touchdowns and a big day on special teams. Quarterback Kalvin Seamonson also threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.

Last season, current head coach Kyle Schmitt was a graduate assistant at Maryland. Taking over the program, which returned only a handful of starters, Schmitt said he saw a lot that he liked.

“Overall, the old staff did a nice job of developing players, because these kids have a real solid knowledge of the game,” Schmitt said. “We’ve brought some of my thoughts, mixed them with the kids and they’ve really done a good job with it.”

Schmitt also likes the senior leadership that captains Robinson, Raines, Seamonson, Welsey King and Zach Deal bring to the team. An unsung hero has popped up every game. Friday it was King, a linebacker and offensive guard, whom Schmitt said played with a lot of energy.

Robinson, a wide receiver/linebacker who has committed to Maryland, said many of the Raiders are capable of making big plays.

“A lot of teams are focusing on either me or Kalvin,” he said, “but we have a lot of play makers, a lot of skill position player and they all can step up to the plate. At any given moment, somebody else can make a play. I think our versatility is what’s helping us a lot, because if someone’s covered, other people can get open and get the ball.”

The competition gets a bit tougher this week when the Raiders travel to meet Wilde Lake Saturday at 2 p.m. The Raiders came close to the state Class 3A runner-up Wildecats last year but fell 22-21.

“I’ve told our guys they’ve done a great job starting off solid, but, if you want to be thought of in the upper echelon of Howard County, beating Wilde Lake is part of that. If you want to run with the big dogs, you’ve got to beat a couple of them. I think this is a big game for our program. I don’t want to put too much pressure on our kids, but to take the next step, we’ve got to beat a program like this, because they’re a traditional power. Those guys do a great job over there.”

Robinson said the Raiders haven’t beaten the Wildecats in four years.

“Our confidence is real high right now,” he said. “Just knowing if we can get by Wilde Lake we have a pretty good chance of doing really well in the county and setting ourselves up for a good chance at the playoffs. This will be a pretty good test for us.”