Roughly 11 months after the two longtime Calvert County and Southern Maryland Athletic Conference rivals faced one another to decide the Maryland 2A State Football Championship, the Huntingtown High squad maintained bragging rights over its neighbors by edging Northern 24-16 in a rematch last Friday.

Huntingtown (8-0) and Northern (4-4) may be fierce rivals on the field, but the coaches and players on both squads have immense respect for one another as well as common synergies.

Huntingtown quarterback Blake Marlowe and wide receiver Logan Boyle both spent their freshman years at Northern and at one time were teammates with Patriots’ two-way player Kamden Ferguson. In the moments after the game ended, Marlowe was quick to give Ferguson a brief hug before the Patriots headed to the team bus.

During the early stages of last Friday’s contest, Ferguson had clearly made his presence on both sides of the ball. On the Hurricanes’ final possession of the first quarter, Ferguson intercepted a Marlowe pass just outside the red zone, then three plays later found room off left tackle and raced into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown run. Patriots’ kicker Colin Scaggs added the extra point and the visitors owned a 7-0 lead.

One week after a near disastrous first half against St. Charles in a clash of previously undefeated teams, Huntingtown had spotted the host Spartans a 10-0 lead at the intermission but roared back in the second half with 28 unanswered points at one stretch before departing with a 28-16 victory. Last Friday began in slightly similar fashion, although this time the Hurricanes would correct their mistakes much earlier and actually took the lead before the intermission.

On Huntingtown’s subsequent series, Marlowe connected with Boyle on a 68-yard touchdown strike and freshman kicker Preston Rubalsky brought the Hurricanes even with his first extra point of the night. Rubalsky would later give the hosts a 10-7 lead at the intermission, connecting on a 36-yard field goal as time expired. But his field goal capped a crisp, two-minute drive with Marlowe hitting Boyle on a curl route inside the Patriots’ 20-yard line to put the freshman kicker in an ideal spot for the go-ahead score.

“My offensive live was great tonight,” Marlowe said. “That’s the best they’re pass blocked all year. My receivers ran great routes. We had been working on that two-minute drill all week and it was great to come away with that field goal right before halftime. Logan ran a great underneath rout to get open to set it up.”

“That whole drive just worked out great,” Boyle said. “We really wanted to come away with some points right before halftime and get some momentum for the second half.”

Huntingtown had committed one turnover in the first half then benefited from one in the third quarter when the Patriots fumbled the second half kickoff and the Hurricanes took over near the Patriots’ red zone.Six plays later running back Derron Turner found the end zone from 11 yards out for a 17-7 lead. Turnovers had enabled both teams to score from short fields, but each of the next two scores followed the normal script.

After yielding 17 unanswered points to the hosts, Northern countered with a 10-play drive that covered 50 yards and spanned well over six minutes. But the Patriots’ eventually stalled inside the red zone and settled for a 37-yard field goal from Scaggs to trim the deficit to 17-10.

Huntingtown then embarked on a successful drive of its own, devouring the last three minutes of the third quarter and the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. But unlike the Northern drive which eventually stalled, the hurricanes capped a stellar, 14-plat drive with touchdown when Marlowe connected with Joshua Walter on a seven-yard route to extend the Hurricanes’ lead to 24-10 with eight minutes remaining.

Just as he had done to start the game, Ferguson provided another score for the Patriots late in the fourth quarter. This time the Patriots went 60 yards in 15 plays and Ferguson added a touchdown pass to his resume when he connected with Jordan Watts in the back, right corner of the end zone from five yards out before Scaggs’ extra point attempt was blocked.

“I’ve been playing with those guys since I was four years old,” Ferguson said. “I love playing with them and against them. They do a lot of things well over there. It was a tough game, but maybe we’ll see them again.”

Huntingtown and Northern could, in fact, meet again in the second week of the region playoffs on Nov. 13. Huntingtown will travel to Calvert this Friday evening then will have a first round bye in the 2A South Region playoffs the following week. Northern, which travels to Leonardtown for its regular season finale this weekend, will likely host McDonough, Thomas Stone or La Plata in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 6 with the winner of that game heading to Huntingtown the following week. Final seedings and opening weekend playoff pairings for all six classifications will be determined following the conclusion of the regular season.