by Dan Greenberg
Germantown Gazette
09-12-2007

In the Watkins Mill football team’s 41-20 loss to Seneca Valley, it looked very reminiscent to the Wolverine team that last left the field a year ago. It has good athletes, just like a year ago, and it specialized in making big plays, just like a year ago.

But also like a year ago, the mistakes killed the Wolverines in their season-opener.

Screaming Eagles running back Aron McDonald scooted his way to 195 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and the Wolverines had two crucial turnovers as a close game in the third quarter turned into a rout by the fourth.

‘‘I was very pleased with the effort, but we made some big mental and physical mistakes, unfortunately,” said Watkins Mill head coach Ivan Hicks. ‘‘For one, if we tackled well, [McDonald] would have held him to a-buck-25 rather than 195.”

The run defense aside, the Wolverines showcased some of the same big-play ability that was evident last year when they had one of the most explosive set of skill position players in county — players who could be moved around on both offense and defense: Josh Pleasant, Theo Clunis and Herve Doliska. But those guys have graduated.

Halfback Sean Malone is going to help fill that void in 2007, and got off to a solid start. Aside from rushing for 45 yards, he returned a kickoff for 57 more, and returned a fumble 35 yards for a touchdown. Senior quarterback Alex Goodrich picked up right where he left off a year ago, throwing for 104 yards and two scores while making plays with his feet for much of the night. And wide receiver Preston Carmon caught both of Goodrich’s touchdown passes.

Goodrich did also throw two costly interceptions, and the Wolverines showed some usual first-game tendencies as well, with several players (including Malone) cramping up on the sidelines due to dehydration.

"Guys were just dropping," Hicks joked. They’re like, ‘Coach, coach, we drank, we drank.’ But I’m like, ‘Well...”