Baltimore County high school football notebook: Four downs, stat leaders and more from Week 5

Here are four takeaways from Week 4 of the high school football season we’re calling “Four Downs,” plus more from across the county:

First down: The Division I landscape clearing up

Mark your calendars, Oct. 25. Perry Hall at Milford Mill. After a couple exhaustive weeks of divisional battles, Perry Hall and Milford Mill have emerged as the top two, both 5-0 overall and seemingly on a collision course.

The Millers survived the same dogfight Perry Hall did a week ago to escape Dundalk on Friday. Milford Mill led 25-7 going into the fourth quarter. But Micah Williams and Donte Gause took over, scoring three straight touchdowns grab a 28-25 lead with two minutes to play. But two long Owen Newberns passes — one to Derrell Pierson and a 30-yard scoring strike to Amauri Patterson — gave the Millers a thrilling last-minute, 32-28 win.

Meanwhile, Perry Hall’s Terrell Hearn put on a show as the Gators rolled, 57-32, over previously unbeaten Catonsville. While Milford Mill still needs to get past Catonsville on Thursday, it appears after weeks of battles with Franklin and Dundalk, we’re right where we were last season, with Milford Mill and Perry Hall getting set to decide the county championship.

Second down: Franklin bounces back

Franklin has the talent to play with anyone. But going into last week, the team’s 2-2 record didn’t reflect the level the Indians have been playing at. Those two losses were by three points to Perry Hall and 13 points to Milford Mill, the county’s two top teams and two that are aiming for long playoff runs.

Defensively, they’ve played each of those juggernauts better than anyone else has. On Friday, the Indians showed what they can do with a 30-7 win over Kenwood. Despite the Bluebirds holding running back Dylan Eaton in check (eight carries for 20 yards), the Indians found a way to win through the arm of Zander McCracken, who threw for over 200 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers.

Third down: Time to build momentum

Now past the midway point of the season, there were some county teams that got off to rough starts and the current front-runners in each division may be hard to catch. But there’s still plenty to play for. With every team given a spot in the postseason, this is a great time to shake off early struggles and build momentum.

That’s what Patapsco is currently doing. The Patriots lost their first three games, but outside of a lopsided game against Randallstown (which has been handing everyone lopsided losses), they were in until the end against Overlea and Parksville.

Two weeks ago against Sparrows Point, Patapsco finally broke through with a late score to win and carried that momentum into last week where it topped Chesapeake, 40-0, with a balanced attack. Sophomore quarterback Wyatt Perry threw for 200 yards and four touchdowns — Nick Adkins’ 74 yards and a score topped the receiving corps — and Dashon Matthews rushed for 160 and a touchdown.

Patapsco will look to get back to .500 Thursday against Lansdowne.

Fourth down: Who can make the most of a short week?

There’s quite a few “toss up” matchups on the schedule this week. A deciding factor in a lot of them might be, quite simply, who can make the most of a short week?

Because of Yom Kippur on Friday, every county team is playing on Thursday night this week. Especially for the teams that played last Saturday as opposed to Friday, that’s less time to recover, less time to game plan, less time to practice.

Taking kids out of their comfort zone sometimes is a recipe for disaster as you don’t know how they’ll react to a schedule change. Will there be any difference getting up for a Thursday night game as opposed to a Friday night game? Sometimes that’s the case. Keeping a sense of normalcy could be a big factor this week.

Numbers game

3 — Passes thrown by Loch Raven in its 30-18 win Friday over Lansdowne.

5 — Interceptions this season so far for Franklin’s Brendon Truong.

9 — Completions on nine attempts in the first half Friday against Catonsville for Perry Hall quarterback Terrell Hearn.

11 — Combined points Sparrows Point has lost by in its three defeats. The 2-3 Pointers have only given up 37 total points in the three losses. They latest defeat was to Pikesville on Friday, 8-6.

205 — Yards passing AND rushing for Owings Mill in its 40-0 win over Towson.

Stat leaders

Rushing yards
1. Damon Ferguson Jr., Milford Mill, 653
2. Elijah Lee, Randallstown, 566
3. Neveah Elliott, Owings Mills, 486
4. Tyler Boyd, Catonsville, 475
5. Marvin Jones, Loch Raven, 350
6. Bubba Jensen, Towson, 304
7. Phillip Jones Jr., Dundalk, 300
8. Sean Lippman, Lansdowne, 299
9. Dylan Eaton, Franklin, 269
10. Armondo Villnuava, Towson, 254

Passing yards
1. Terrell Hearn, Perry Hall, 1,024 2. Owen Newberns, Milford Mill, 949
3. Sean Lippman, Lansdowne, 943
4. Angelo Schuler, Dulaney, 741
5. Chris Hamilton, Kenwood, 733
6. Micah Williams, Dundalk, 702
7. Zander McCracken, Franklin, 569
9. Rashad Williams, Owings Mills, 484
10. Gunnar Gemmell, Catonsville, 386
8. William Pinkett, Randallstown, 341

Receiving yards
1. Malachi Bryant, Owings Mills, 459
2. David Matthews, Lansdowne, 432
3. Corey Costner, Perry Hall, 408
4. Vernon Allen, Perry Hall, 373
5. Darryl Giles Jr., Kenwood, 356
6. Derrell Pierson, Milford Mill, 315
7. Jesse Faulkner, Dulaney, 293
8. TJ Lambirth, Dundalk, 292
9. CJ Crump, Perry Hall, 241
10. Romero Ison, Milford Mill, 236

Quotable

“Our game plan was to come out here and run the ball for over 200 rushing yards, but it wasn’t working so we started passing the ball and using the outer flanks, and once we started passing the ball they can’t stop us.” — Perry Hall quarterback Terrell Hearn after Friday’s win over Catonsville.

Week 5 results

New Town 26, Dulaney 12
Perry Hall 57, Catonsville 32
Maret School 35, Woodlawn 0
Randallstown 27, Western Tech 12
Loch Raven 30, Lansdowne 18
Franklin 30, Kenwood 7
Owings Mills 40, Towson 0
Hereford 49, Eastern Tech 14
Pikesville 8, Sparrows Point 6
Milford Mill 32, Dundalk 28
Patapsco 40, Chesapeake 0
Overlea 31, Parkville 0

Week 6 schedule

Thursday’s games
Eastern Tech at New Town, 3:30 p.m.
Lansdowne at Patapsco, 4 p.m.
Sparrows Point at Randallstown, 4 p.m.
Hereford at Towson, 4 p.m.
Woodlawn at Perry Hall, 6 p.m.
Reservoir at Franklin, 6 p.m.
Catonsville at Milford Mill, 6 p.m.
Parkville at Owings Mills, 6 p.m.
Loch Raven at Western Tech, 6 p.m.
Chesapeake at Pikesville, 6 p.m.
Dulaney at Overlea, 6:30 p.m.
Dundalk at Kenwood, 6:30 p.m.

Have a news tip? Contact Anthony Maluso at amaluso@baltsun.com , 567-230-6024 , x.com/TonySunSports and instagram.com/TonySunSports .