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WHEATON - - The Blair Blazers were handed what could be considered their most disappointing loss of the season last night, falling to the Wheaton Knights, 49-48, after an extremely promising start.

The Blazers had one of their best defensive quarters of the year in last night's first, holding the Knights to one point, a Rayshaun Taylor free throw with 1:22 left. Blair forward Dennis Mesidor, who continued to show that more playing time for him can only be a good thing for the Blazers, hit a buzzer-beating three to make it 10-1 going into the second.

Mesidor, a junior who started the year as a bench warmer who rarely played, has been rewarded for his excellent performance off the bench this year with quality playing time. Last night, the forward scored 17 points with 11 rebounds and one block, all team highs. He also only committed one turnover.

"I just played hard," he said. "I feel good, I just wish we won that game, we should have won that game. We need to focus, because in practice we make our free throws, but when we get out there we get hyped up and our adrenaline is pumping."

"I think Dennis has really stepped it up," coach Mark DeStefano said after January 5th's game against Springbrook.. "He's learning a little bit every day, and it's really fun coaching a kid like that, who comes to practice and learns something new and competes and plays every day in practice. He's very raw, he's never played organized high school ball before."

Wheaton outclassed the Blazers in the second quarter, outscoring them 19-6. Motivation may have been an issue for Blair, as the game did not affect their playoff match up, which had already been announced.

The Blazers started out the third quarter with a 5-0 run to pull it with two, but Wheaton held the lead until Blair forward Leon Sampson made a shot and a free throw attempt with about a minute left in the third. With five seconds left, however, Taylor drove the lane, went up for the shot, and then pump-faked right and shot left while in mid-air. The shot went in, and it was once again a tie.

With 5:27 left in the fourth quarter and a 34-34 tie, Blair guard Cameron Reed missed both of his free throw attempts. Wheaton forward Rolland Diers made the wide open three on the ensuing possession, putting the Knights up 37-34.

Poor free throw shooting was once again a thorn in Blair's side. Blair shot 10-18 from the line, and their inability to make clutch shots from the stripe at the end of the game cost them dearly.

With 1:45 left and a five point Wheaton lead, it looked as though the game might be getting out of reach. However, Blair guard Wayne Henderson connected on his only three of the night, making the score 45-43. Wheaton made one of two free throws on their possession, and then Mesidor garnered an offensive rebound and put it back to make it a one point deficit. Once again, Wheaton made one of two free throws, and then the excitement turned up yet another notch.

With the score 47-45 Knights, Mesidor missed an inside shot. Blair forward Mike McClain got the rebound and dished it to Sampson, who was fouled. The shot went in, and it was a tie ball game. With the raucous senior night crowd taunting him to miss, Blair's big man calmly sank the free throw, giving the Blazers the lead. Sampson and Henderson were the only two Blazers who didn't struggle at the line, going 5-7 and 2-3, respectively.

With seven seconds left, Wheaton knew what to do: Put the ball in their star's hands and watch him fly. Taylor took the ball the length of the court, faked right, dribbled left, and sunk the layup with 4.6 seconds left for the lead. A failed half court shot by McClain made the Knights' win official.

"We were just trying to get a win," Diers said. "We just wanted to get one more stop, get the win on senior night and go home happy."

Taylor scored 16 points, and forward David Dolan scored 11 points with two blocks. Sampson had 11 points with 8 rebounds, Henderson had 9 points, and McClain scored 9 points with 8 rebounds.

The Blazers' first playoff game is Friday, February 25th, at Richard Montgomery against the Rockets. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Blair Blazers lost their last regular season game tonight, 49-48, to the Wheaton Knights. The Blazers jumped out to a 10-1 lead after the first quarter, but Wheaton played strong the rest of the game, while Blair simply didn't. Blazer forward Dennis Mesidor scored 17 points with 11 rebounds, forward Leon Sampson had 11 points with 8 rebounds, and forward Mike McClain had 9 points with 8 rebounds.

I'll put my article up tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers defeated the Gaithersburg Trojans last night on Blair's senior night (the last home game of the season), 48-37. It is the third straight senior night that they have celebrated with a win.

As is custom on senior nights of every sport, the longest tenured seniors started the game for the Blazers. Blair's starting lineup consisted of guards Eddie Kolleh and Wayne Henderson, as well as forwards Neil Corran, Josh Gordon, and Leon Sampson. Fittingly, every senior scored at least one point in the game.

"That's never a goal coming into senior night, but I'm glad it happened," coach Mark DeStefano said. "The five guys that started tonight, they've all played here since they were freshman, and I thought it was really important to honor guys that have been in the program for four years."

With fifty seconds left in the first quarter, the 5'4" Kolleh raced down the floor and blocked a potential Gaithersburg layup, his first block of the season, to maintain a Blair lead.

"I was just like, 'He can't make that layup'," Kolleh said. "It feels good, because we haven't lost on senior night for the past three years, since Coach D[eStefano] has been here, so we had to keep the trend going."

About a minute into the second quarter, Sampson started to dominate the court. He rejected two Trojan shots in a row, and then dunked off an offensive rebound on the other end of the floor to make it 15-10 Blair.

"You want to attack me, come at your own risk, because I've got to protect the paint," he said. "Neil drove, and my man left to go attack, and when the shot missed, he didn't box out, so I had a free lane. It was just one of those perfect opportunities and I took advantage of it."

Sampson finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and an outstanding 7 blocks. He added another dunk later, a one-handed jam off of a Mike McClain inbounds pass.

"It was just a perfectly executed play," Sampson said. "My man bit on the fake, and I just saw him behind me, took my time, and got it down."

Coach DeStefano was very pleased with Sampson's effort on the floor.

"It was huge," he said. "The way he played in the second half was [great], he just takes up space in the middle and guys want to test him. He's 6'8" and has long arms, the blocks are nice, but it's the way he changes guys' shots when they dribble in there that is so impressive. He's one of these guys who when he gets activated defensively, he gets activated offensively. We need him to make plays, and he's doing it, and as long as he's doing it, we're gonna be okay. He's worked very hard, he's having a very good senior season. "

The Blazers outscore the Trojans by 11 in the second half, and the game never get close after the third quarter. Senior guard Wayne Henderson scored 10 points and McClain scored 12 points with 12 rebounds and 3 assists.

As I was talking to the players after the game, former Blair basketball star Milton Colquehoun (class of '08) hung around, urging the players to "say my name, say my name." The players obliged.

"Milton told me that I gotta get back all the time," Kolleh said. "Because he doesn't like [when we don't hustle] and he's an alumni. He hates when we lose, so I had to do it for Milton."

"It feels great, it feels great," Henderson said. "It's just an honor to follow in the footsteps of those guys, like Milton Colquehoun, who came before us."

"It was senior night," McClain said. "So I knew that I had to step up my effort and that's what I did. It's great, it's nice that the alumni, such as Milton Colquehoun, set the trend, and it's nice that every senior contributes, we had that kind of team this year."

"[Us winning on senior night is] important, it's tradition," Sampson said. "It started with Ross Williams and them, and then Milton and them followed it up by winning, so we just had to make sure to do it too."

"Milton Colquehoun." DeStefano added.

The Blazers' final regular season game is Tuesday, February 24th, at Wheaton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blair Blazers put together an impressive performance tonight at home against the Gaithersburg Trojans, running away in the second half to a 48-37 victory. Leon Sampson had a huge night for the Blazers, scoring 13 points with 10 rebounds and 7 blocks.

I'll put up my article on the game tomorrow.

BETHESDA - - Blair sent Walter Johnson fans home disappointed on their own senior night, as the Blazers defeated the Wildcats 62-55 in overtime yesterday.

The game didn't start well for the Blazers, however, as the Wildcats jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first five and a half minutes. Blair finished out the quarter with a 6-2 run sparked by an Eddie Kolleh layup to make it a palatable 13-6 deficit.

"[I thought I brought] intensity today," Kolleh said. "We were pretty much just sleepwalking, and I was like 'We need to wake up'. Coach brought me in, and I thought 'We either do it now, or we're not gonna win this game', so I just came in, did what I had to do, and went all out. We had nothing to lose, we were down 11-0 at the time, so you've got to gamble a little bit, and then everyone else started to pick up the intensity. This is probably the best team ball we've played because everyone was looking for each other after all those drills we do."

Blair senior guard Wayne Henderson came into the game with a wrist injury that he suffered in gym class, and struggled to find his rhythm with a cast on in the first quarter. Henderson came out in the second quarter cast-free, and immediately sank a three-pointer on his first shot. Henderson finished the night with 16 points, including 3 three-pointers.

"We were winning in gym class and somebody was mad at me and when I jumped up he undercut me and I landed on my wrist," Henderson said. "Me looking at my wrist was bothering me and noticing all that tape was bothering me and just taking me out of my game mode, so I just took it off and played better without it."

An odd play occurred with 1:10 left in the second quarter. Walter Johnson forward Henry Tollefson attempted to save an errant pass from guard Nash Oh, but threw the ball up in the air to Sampson and the undersized Oh. Sampson came up with the ball, bowling over Oh, and passed the ball on the fast break to Kolleh. Kolleh missed the layup, but Sampson was there for the offensive rebound and the put-back to make it 24-19 Wildcats.

Blair entered the fourth quarter down 39-31. Two successful plays with about five minutes left for the Blazers cut it down to a two-point game. Blair forward Dennis Mesidor blocked a Wildcat shot, hustled down the floor, recovered the offensive rebound, and was fouled while making a shot. Mesidor made the free throw to make the score 39-34. On Blair's next possession, Henderson made an open three-pointer from the wing to make it 39-37.

"I felt good," Mesidor said. "I felt that I could provide and I just played hard today. [My shots] helped us because we were down, I'm just glad I could help at the end."

With one minute and 30 seconds left, it seemed like Walter Johnson finally was going to pull away. Oh drove to the paint from the top of the key and made the runner to expand the lead to 46-42. On the ensuing Blair possession, a four point play of sorts occurred to tie the game up for the first time since the opening tip-off. Mesidor made a two point shot and was fouled. The junior missed the free throw, but Sampson got the rebound and was also fouled. Sampson made both free throws to make the score 46-46.

The back-and-forth trend of the fourth quarter continued, as Walter Johnson's Omar Zerbo made a two-point shot to take the lead with 55 seconds left, but Blair guard Cameron Reed tied it up with a bank shot with 30 seconds left. The Wildcats held the ball for the last shot of regulation, and Oh was fouled driving to the lane for a one-and-one. The senior missed the first free throw, and the game was sent into overtime.

The Wildcats took an early lead in over time after two Bert Yaffe free throws, but from then on it was all Blazers. Henderson shot a three from the corner off a Cooper Neimand pass that took a weird angle off the corner of the backboard but was good, giving the Blazers their first lead of the game.

"When it was at the end of my fingertips, someone hit my elbow," Henderson said. "And so as it went off, I was like 'That's awful', but then it hit off the backboard and swished in. I just gave the little Michael Jordan face, like 'I don't know, it just went in', and that was it. It feels good to win in overtime period, but to win on the road, on their senior night, and they had all their energy up and everything, it just felt really good."

Bert's brother Carl Yaffe retook the lead with a shot inside, but on the following possession Mesidor scored off the offensive rebound and put-back, and the Blazers never looked back. Oh was called for a carry-over on his next possession for his game high 8th turnover, Sampson scored inside to make it a three point lead, and then Carl Yaffe was called for traveling. After the four minute period was over, the final score read 62-55 Blazers.

Sampson finished with eleven points, six rebounds, and team highs in steals (3) and blocks (4). The senior was able to have a strong game even while facing the first person who could match up with him height-wise this season in Zerbo.

"I tried to use my experience factor, because this is really only his second year playing varsity basketball," Sampson said. "So I tried to use the experience factor against him. He's a big guy, I just tried to out-quick him and get past him, because he's not that quick on his feet."

Mesidor had ten points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, and senior forward Mike McClain gathered 10 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. For Walter Johnson, Oh had nine points, four assists, and those eight turnovers, Tollefson had 13 points, nine rebounds and five turnovers, and Carl Yaffe had 13 points, seven rebounds, and four turnovers.

Blair coach Mark DeStefano was pleased with the team's effort, and cited the coming back to clutch shooting and lockdown defense.

"We weren't scoring very well," DeStefano said. "But they weren't either, they only had 39 points in three quarters, so I felt like if we could make the buckets and get some stops and switch up some things defensively, then we would be able to create some things and get back into the game. At that point, it's just a question of hitting shots and playing clutch basketball, which we did in the last 8 minutes of basketball, overtime and the last four in regulation."

Blair's next game is tomorrow, February 19th, at home against Gaithersburg. It is senior night for the Blazers, so it is the last home game of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blair Blazers beat the Walter Johnson Wildcats in overtime tonight, 62-55. Senior guard Wayne Henderson led all scorers with 16 points.

I'll put up my article tomorrow.

In a game that I couldn't attend because of a prior engagement, the Blair Blazers lost to the Quince Orchard Cougars, 49-43. The Blazers led by seven at halftime thanks to Leon Sampson's 16 points, but couldn't hold on to get the win.

Tonight, the Blazers play at Walter Johnson. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

SILVER SPRING - - It's the same old story for the Blazers. One bad quarter destroys their shot of winning the game.

A 19-7 Paint Branch second quarter proved to be the difference, as the Panthers won 56-43. In the other three quarters combined, Paint Branch only outscored the Blazers by one.

Blair started out on a 10-3 run, causing five Panther turnovers, but an 8-0 run at the end of the quarter for Paint Branch gave them an 11-10 lead. The first quarter was a block party, with each time recording four swats (three by Blair forward Leon Sampson) in those first eight minutes. Sampson finished the game with six blocks and Dennis Mesidor had five, both season highs for the forwards.

"Coach told me from the onset that I was going to be playing against bigger guys," Sampson said. "So he told me he really wanted me to bring my defensive A-game to the game, so that's what I tried to do. As far as the block shots, I just went after the ball and didn't get called for that many fouls tonight."

"I played hard," Mesidor said. "And I took this white [under]shirt that I had on earlier off, I figured that would make it easier. My mentality is that I'm gonna block it, and I just time it right."

Coach Mark DeStefano said that although a large amount of blocked shots can be a sign of good penetration by the opposing offense, he was also pleased with the effort on defense by his big men inside.

"We're a pretty long group with certain lineups that we put out there," he said. "Leon is 6'8, Dennis is about 6'5, and you don't want to rely on blocked shots, but that's a sign, at least, that our guys being aggressive, they're moving their feet, they're getting to the ball."

Paint Branch's strong second half started when Mesidor threw a pass to Paint Branch point guard Stephen Griffin, who took the ball the length of the floor and made a nifty spin move around Blair guard Wayne Henderson for the layup. With 3:20 left in the half, Griffin got a rebound and easily outran Blair's defense, passing it to Devin Gallman, who flew high above the rim for a powerful dunk.

With 6:30 left in the fourth and the score 43-31 Panthers, senior forward Mike McClain stole the ball from Gallmand and took it down the floor, where his shot was blocked by Cody Burns. The ball bounced over to Henderson in the corner, who sunk the uncontested three. Henderson hit another three off an Eddie Kolleh inbounds pass later in the game to make the score 46-39, but the game did not get any closer than that.

"We ran "Stack" and I ran across and no one screened," Henderson said. "They didn't see me, I just jumped to the ball side, caught the ball, and just jumped and shot it. I knew it was going in when I jumped and released it."

"I think we did a very good job playing," DeStefano said. "We had some changes in our game plan offensively that I think were effective, defensively I thought we scrapped at places. We hit the three to cut it to seven with 4:41 left in the game, then we fouled them four straight times and it went from a seven point game to an eleven point game, and you're kind of then battling the clock and the score."

The Panthers' height difference was one of the bigger factors of the game, as they outrebounded the Blazers 25-20 and were able to dominate the low post. Paint Branch averages a full two inches taller than the Blazers, and six of their players are 6'4 or taller. 6'6 Ed Hall had a big game for the Panthers, scoring 15 points with 8 rebounds.

"I think I played okay, I could have played better," Hall said. "Went out stronger, got a few more rebounds. I think we just try to get inside and finish. We've got to work on that too, we didn't finish as well as we should have. Overall, I'm kind of pleased. We need to work on finishing and our passing - we had a lot of turnovers today."

McClain was the leading scorer for the Blazers, with 14 points. The senior forward added a team high four assists and two steals in his first game back from an injury that sidelined him for the previous game.

"I thought we played well," he said. "We outscored them in the second half, and we should have been winning at the end of the first. They're a really good team, and we did some things well today, but we've just got to get back on defense, that killed us. A lot of pressure, a lot of intensity."

The Blazers will face a tough opponent on Friday in 13-5 Quince Orchard. The Cougars run a full-court press that forces a lot of turnovers and mistakes, things the Blazers need to avoid.

"We got 22 turnovers today," Henderson said. "You can't turn the ball over, because Quince Orchard presses the whole game. Literally, every minute of the game. Probably off the jump ball, they're jumping into a press. So we've got to keep the ball tight."

"You've gotta attack it, the only way you can defeat pressure is by attacking it," DeStefano said. "QO will do seven different types of press throughout the game, so if you sit back they will beat you. So we have to understand that we're gonna have guys in our face the entire game, and our guys have to take care of the basketball. We do have a size advantage, we'll probably have, at any point, the three biggest guys on the floor, so we have to be able to use that to attack the rim and get the ball inside."

A lot of the pressure to break the press will fall on Sampson. The big man will need to provide relief for the guards by dominating inside.

"I'm gonna try to help my teammates out," Sampson said. "Because they're just gonna press like crazy, so I'm just gonna try and be the release man and break it and then be strong and finish."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Quince Orchard High School.

The Blair Blazers lost to the Paint Branch Panthers tonight, 56-43. Forward Mike McClain scored 14 points, guard Wayne Henderson scored 11, and forward Leon Sampson scored 11. Sampson and forward Dennis Mesidor combined for 11 blocks on the night, by the far the Blazers' highest total this season. For the Panthers, Devin Gallman scored 14 and Ed Hall scored 15 with 8 rebounds.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers lost in one of their worst offensive efforts of the year last night, 53-27, to the Richard Montgomery Rockets.

Senior forward and co-captain Mike McClain was out for the Blazers with an unknown injury. Junior guard Cameron Reed started in his place and scored only two points against six turnovers.

"We don't know. I'm not sure what kind of injury it is or even how it happened," coach Mark DeStefano said. "He might have gotten hurt at the end of the Sherwood game on Monday. He couldn't practice, couldn't go yesterday, it's not worth the risk. I don't know what his status is going to be, but hopefully he'll be healthy for the stretch run."

The Blazers scored 27 points against 28 turnovers, identical numbers to a debacle earlier this year against Springbrook, where they lost by 43. 20 of the Rockets' 53 points were scored off of turnovers.

"We work on ball handling, passing and dribbling drills every day in practice," DeStefano said. "What has to occur for us to be better is we have to approach the game like we approach practice. It's not something you can take for granted. It doesn't matter what level of basketball you're at, if you turn the ball over 20 plus times a game, you're not gonna win."

Once again, Blair surrendered an early run to start the game, as Richard Montgomery took an 11-3 lead with just under 5 minutes left in the first quarter thanks to six Blair turnovers and six points from forward Jonathan Mensah. Mensah finished the day with 8 points and 9 rebounds.

"Basically, I'm working hard," Mensah said. "Everybody on the team is playing together as one, and everybody is now clicking together. I feel really good, we played really hard, coming off a loss against Springbrook, bringing it out to Blair and doing a good job."

Mensah filled in with Drew College in a center-by committee, as starter Shawn Stephens was sidelined with an ankle injury.

"Mensah came off the bench tonight and helped play center, and they didn't miss a beat," DeStefano said. "He had great activity, great tenacity, really finished plays around the rim, really did a good job for them in their offense and what they want to do."

The score at the end of the first quarter was 17-6 Rockets, and Blair would never recover. At the end of the first, Rockets guard Tre Washington hit a buzzer beating three, and was fouled while attempting a three at the buzzer of the second quarter. Washington hit two of three free throws, making the score 29-16.

With about 5 minutes left in the second half, however, senior guard Wayne Henderson showed terrific ball handling skills. Henderson was being guarded on the perimeter by Mensah, a mismatch for the forward. The co-captain faked to his left, made a quick move to the right straight past Mensah, and was fouled near the basket by another defender.

"He played too close and I just made a move and blew right by him," Henderson said. "He did the same thing last game, played too close, so it was just one move and go."

Guards Nick Brown and Washington had terrific games for the Rockets as well. Brown, who stands at 6'2" (well above average for a Montgomery County point guard), scored 15 points with 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and no turnovers.

"I think I had a good game," he said. "Rebounds are important. It's not my best game of the year, but I guess I did okay. I'm a 6'2" point guard, so if getting rebounds helps our team, then I'm satisfied with that, and so is coach."

"Nick has really improved his outside shot," DeStefano said. "He's only a junior, he's a big point guard, he's got good quickness, good length. He really wasn't that good of a shooter last year, and he sets the table for them."

Washington had game highs in points (16) and steals (7), and also recorded 7 rebounds.

"I tried to deny the ball as much as I could, like my coach told me to, and I was just working hard," Washington said. "I feel that my team played good, this is one of the best games that we've played all year. This is the first time that we've held a team under 30 points."

The combination of Washington, Mensah and Brown had the same amount of rebounds (25), more points (39-27), assists (5-4), steals (9-5), and far less turnovers (3-28) than the entire Blazer team.

A lone bright spot for the Blazers was the breakout performance of junior reserve guard Trey Moses. Moses scored six points, tying forward Leon Sampson for a team-high, and all of Blair's four fourth quarter points. Moses was able to sink pull-up jumpers over defenders' heads, and his development will surely help the team in the future.

"I think I played pretty good," he said. "I made my shots today, came off the bench at the end of the game. Nobody else was putting the ball in the rim in the fourth quarter, so I just decided to shoot."

"Trey carried over, he had a great practice yesterday," DeStefano said. "He really played well in practice, and we kinda talked afterwards and said 'You know, we'd like to start seeing you do that in the game', and in the second half he played the way he played in practice."

Blair falls to 5-12, while Richard Montgomery improves to 10-7. The Blazers' next game is Tuesday, February 10th, at home against Paint Branch. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blair Blazers lost tonight in yet another pathetic effort on offense, 53-27, against the Richard Montgomery Rockets. The leading scorers for Blair were Leon Sampson and reserve Trey Moses, with 6 each. For the Rockets, point guard Nick Brown had 15 points and 9 rebounds, shooting guard Tre Washington had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 7 steals, and junior forward Jonathan Mensah had 8 points and 9 rebounds.

A full article will be up tomorrow.

SANDY SPRING - - Last night, the Blair Blazers lost to division rival Sherwood in overtime, 64-55.

The Warriors got off to a quick start, outscoring the Blazers 7-0 in the first minute of the game thanks to two Blair turnovers and a Devin Thomas three. Blair was held scoreless for the first three minutes and twenty seconds of the game, when junior point guard Cooper Neimand hit a mid-range jumper to make it 10-2.

Thomas, a senior guard who burned the Blazers in the rebounding category last time the two squads met, did not get a single rebound in the game, but scored 10 points. Thomas was one of four Warriors to score in double figures, joined by junior guard Brad Bolen (13), senior guard Mark Eiseman (14), and senior forward Aaron Krens (18).

The Blazers closed the gap in the second quarter, outscoring the Warriors 11-5 to tie up the game. Senior forward Mike McClain grabbed an offensive rebound and made the shot with 45 seconds left in the half to tie it at 19-19.

Sherwood started out the second half hot as well, outscoring the Blazers 6-0 in the first 90 seconds. With 2:30 left in the third quarter, Blair guard Cameron Reed came up with a monstrous block that sparked a 6-0 run for Blair, making the score 33-32 Sherwood. After the Warriors made one of two free throws at the line to make it 34-32, Blair forward Mike McClain was fouled while taking a three-point shot as time expired in the quarter. McClain made two of three to tie up the game.

Free throw shooting really hurt the Blazers, especially in the fourth quarter. The Blazers were 12-24 from the line in the game, and junior forward Dennis Mesidor made only one of six free throw attempts in the crucial fourth quarter. With only 8 seconds remaining in regulation, senior guard Wayne Henderson passed it inside to forward Leon Sampson, who put in the layup to give Blair a 48-46 lead. Thomas then put the game on his shoulders and sunk a two point shot with two seconds left, sending the game into overtime.

Sherwood dominated the overtime period, outscoring the Blazers by 9. Ten seconds into the four minute period, Bolen made a layup to break the tie, and the Blazers would never recover. Blair's last hopes were shattered when McClain was called for an inbound violation with 50 seconds left and the score 60-55 Warriors.

Sampson scored 18 points with 13 rebounds and two blocks, Henderson scored 7 points with 2 steals, McClain scored 13 points with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals, and Mesidor scored 5 points with 9 rebounds. Blair committed 19 turnovers, while Sherwood had 17, and outrebounded the Warriors 32-24.

Blair falls to 5-11 on the year, while Sherwood improves to 6-8 with their second straight win.

Blair's next game is Wednesday, February 4th, at home against Richard Montgomery. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers played their second straight game Friday night, and defeated the Magruder Colonels for the second time this season, 41-39.

Senior forward Mike McClain set the tone early, propelling the Blazers to a 10-2 run with 8 points and an assist in the opening minutes. Magruder finished the quarter strong, outscoring the Blazers 8-3, but Blair still led, 13-10.

"It was extremely important because it gave me that confidence to play consistent throughout the game," McClain said. "I'm just playing hard and the team's clicking, and when people are playing better, I know I'm playing better, because it's a team effort."

McClain finished the night with team highs in points (16), assists (3), and steals (4).

"I think Mike has steadily and slowly improved his level of play in the last couple of weeks," coach Mark DeStefano said. "He's got a skill set that's very hard for teams to deal with. He's 6'5", he can play in the post or he can play facing the basket, and shoot the ball. His court vision and the way he sees the floor is phenomenal for a high school kid, and when he's scoring, guys get open and Mike can find them and it creates opportunities for everybody."

Blair outrebounded the Colonels 3-0 in the first quarter. There were so few rebounds due to a combination of turnovers and accurate shooting. While only 23 points were scored in the quarter, there were 14 turnovers (9 by Blair, 5 by Magruder).

With fifteen seconds left in the second quarter, Magruder guard Spencer Datt hit an open three from the right corner to give the Colonels a 19-17 lead. It would be Magruder's last lead of the game, and Blair senior forward Leon Sampson hit an inside layup as the buzzer sounded to the tie the game going into the half. Sampson scored 14 points with seven rebounds and added two blocks in his productive day.

The buzzer beater trend continued at the end of the third quarter, as guard Wayne Henderson hit a three as time expired to give the Blazers a 33-29 lead. Blair now has four buzzer beaters in the last two games.

"Let's look at the big picture here - we won tonight by two," DeStefano said. "So you hit that shot at the end of the third, it's an important shot, and anytime you make a play like that it gives your team confidence. We're starting to believe now that we can make some plays to compete and beat teams."

If Henderson was Kobe Bryant against Blake two days ago, scoring at will and creating his own opportunities, he was Reggie Bush against Magruder, drawing two or three defenders and allowing his teammates to score while only scoring seven points himself.

"We played really well defensively," he said. "Mike started off hot, and I knew I wasn't going to produce that much this game because it was Mike and Leon's game from the start, they knew what they had to do. All of [Magruder's] guards were like 'Number 3's their shooter!', so I just tried to get my shots off, but I was a little off today. Everything felt good, it was just a little off, but defense is what won the game."

Blair's bench was also key in the victory. Junior forward Dennis Mesidor had seven rebounds to continue his recent tear off the bench, and senior forward Josh Gordon had two points, two rebounds, and one huge block.

With two minutes and forty seconds left in the game, Magruder had the ball in a 36-36 tie. Guard Cory Rivas passed it inside to forward Salim Woodhouse, who looked to have an easy put-in for the Colonels first lead in more than 13 minutes. Gordon came out of nowhere to block the shot, and drove down the court. The senior passed it to McClain, who was fouled, and made one of the two free throws, giving the Blazers a lead they would never give back.

"I thought he was wide open," Gordon said. "I saw him try to get a hand on the ball. He was probably going to score because he was right under the basket, so it helped finish the game out."

"[That block was] huge," DeStefano said. "He gets that block and then he goes the length of the floor on the transition and sets up what we needed in terms of winning the game, and he's done that many times for us this season, without a doubt. He doesn't play as many minutes as a senior would like, but he's playing like a senior should."

Rivas hit a half court buzzer beater at the end of the game to close it out, 41-39 Blair. Blair is now 2-10 in their last 12 games, both wins coming against Magruder.

"This win gives us a lot of momentum, because two good efforts in a row going into Monday should help us out," McClain said.

Blair's next game is Monday, February 2nd, at Sherwood. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blazers defeated division rival Magruder today, 41-39, to complete the series sweep of the Colonels. There were three buzzer beaters in the game, and it was tightly contested throughout.

I'll put my article up tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - - Two guards shone last night at James Hubert Blake High School, as the Blake Bengals defeated the Blair Blazers 70-53.

Blair senior Wayne Henderson scored a season high 25, and Blake sophomore Ryan Frazier scored 26 as points flew from beyond the three point line. The teams connected with eight threes each, and the 127 points scored is the highest total for any Blazer game this season.

Henderson looked like a video game character on the court, creating unlimited opportunities for himself and seemingly making every shot. The senior was 7-10 from behind the arc.

"I was hot," Henderson said. "I was just shooting. Last game [against Blake], I remember it was just open to shoot, and I noticed after the first couple of times I back dribbled that there was no one there, and then the third time I just took that dribble. Leon was setting good screens, so he was helping me out a little bit."

Frazier was able to take advantage of Blake's successful screens and hit five threes, most of them wide open from the perimeter.

"I kept my focus and my teammates kept passing me the ball," Frazier said. "It was a whole team effort. Coach makes us shoot free throws every day in practice, and I just take it very seriously. I think we played real good, we kept our composure, and it was just a good all-around win."

Both offenses had trouble holding on to the ball in the first quarter, combining for 13 turnovers. With the score 10-8 Blair, Frazier hit an open three from the corner that sparked a 7-0 Blake run. The Blazers were able to end the quarter on a good note, however, as junior forward Dennis Mesidor banked in a buzzer-beating three to cut the Bengals' lead to 17-13.

"Cooper was open, so there was pressure going towards him and nobody was paying attention to me," Mesidor said. "I was calling for it, and then the ball went loose and I grabbed it, and then I just shot it. I was surprised when I went in, I was on the floor."

Mesidor turned in yet another quality game off the bench, scoring 13 points with four rebounds and three assists.

"I feel good," he said. "I wish I had just made my free throws, that's the only thing that's throwing me off."

The Blazers had an incredibly strong second quarter, outscoring the Bengals by six to take the lead at halftime, 33-31. Henderson hit a buzzer-beating three at the end of this quarter, this one halfway between the three point line and the halfcourt mark.

"I caught the ball, and I took a dribble backwards, and then I looked at the clock and it was only like 2 seconds," Henderson said. "So I took one dribble to the side and just let it go. When it came out of my hand, I knew it was good. I don't know how, I just felt it."

With three minutes left in the third quarter, sophomore forward Matt McGugan hit a jumper inside to take a 43-41 Blake lead, which they would never relinquish. McGugan scored 16 points, second on the Bengals.

The ability to make free throws really separated the two teams. Mesidor was 0-3 from the line, leading Blair's 3-7 effort, and Blake was 14-15 on free throws. Blair also had trouble on defense, allowing 70 points for the second straight game, and with depth on offense, as only four Blazers scored a point.

"[Getting more offensive depth] is huge, it's huge," coach Mark DeStefano said. "We've been dealing with that problem all season, getting more guys involved in the offense. Some of it is guys not recognizing opportunities that are there, but when we have to play out of necessity we're not a very good team. When we can do what we want to do, we can get guys involved. That's why it was nice to see Dennis have the game he had tonight, because he's come a very long way in one season. So if he continues to play that hard, and give us some depth and confidence, I think we'll be okay."

The Blazers play tonight at home against Magruder, the second time this season they have played two night in a row.

"I love it," DeStefano said. "The more you play, the better you get. Hopefully we can build on the positive things we did tonight and move forward and just play. Sometimes that's the best thing, to just play games. That's the most sustained good basketball we've played in a very long time. They made a great response in the second half, they upped the intensity, they started playing a lot harder, a lot more physical, and we were there for a while and then we just kind of wore down."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

In a well-played game on both sides until the end, the Blair Blazers lost to the Blake Bengals tonight, 70-57. Blair guard Wayne Henderson scored 25 points, while Blake guard Ryan Frazier scored 26.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers were handed the ugliest of defeats Friday night, as defending state champion Springbrook won at Blair 70-27.

The Blue Devils started out on a 16-0 run, and did not look back. The score was 17-6 at the end of the first, and that would end up being the smallest lead Springbrook would have for the rest of the night.

The Blazers committed 28 turnovers, their second highest total this season, and only collected 16 rebounds. Springbrook's defense was stifling, holding the Blazers to under 30 points and getting 23 steals.

"It doesn't make a difference what offense we run if we don't possess the basketball and play with some confidence," coach Mark DeStefano said. "Every time we've played poorly in the first half this season we've turned the ball over like that. Our guys, unfortunately, it's a hard lesson that they struggle to learn. They always say that experience is the toughest teacher, because you have the test first, and the lesson second, and experience is teaching us a doozy. The lesson's the same every night, we just have to have better learning habits, we have to be better students. 28 turnovers is inexcusable, but unfortunately, that's what we're dealing with this season, we haven't found a combination that will take care of the basketball."

Senior forward Mike McClain scored 14 points for the Blazers, the only player besides guard Wayne Henderson to score more than two points. Henderson had five on the game.

"Well, we came out flat," McClain said, "We came out with low intensity and that affected us for the rest of the game. We just need to come out stronger. They were hitting almost all their shots, so it was tough to play them, because they were playing so well, but [Springbrook forward] Jamal [Olasewere] did what he always does - get rebounds and play strong."

Olasewere, averaging 19.2 points per game this season, scored 16 points with four rebounds, four assists, four steals, and three blocks in limited playing time for Springbrook. Guards DeShaunt Walker, Chris Carter, and Jeremy Williams scored 10, 12, and 14 points, respectively, for the Blue Devils.

The Blazers seemed to have a problem giving their full effort throughout the game, especially after the 16-0 start.

"Our heart," senior forward Leon Sampson said, pounding his chest, "That's what we need to work on, our heart. We had nothing to lose. They're undefeated, they had everything to lose. We had nothing to lose, and we didn't play with that sense of urgency, we just came out flat from the beginning of the game. Being down 16 at the beginning, that just dug a real big hole for us, and then it just turned into an All-Star game for them because we just stopped playing."

"We just didn't show up for the first five minutes of the game, and then we didn't show up for the last six and a half minutes of the game," DeStefano said. "And I think if you take those two stretches out, which is almost a half, it was a pretty evenly played and competitive game. But when you spot a team like Springbrook 16-0, and at the end of the game you can't even make an entry pass on your offense, it's very hard to play good basketball."

The game was yet another example of Blair's struggles at home. The Blazers are now 1-5 at Nelson H. Kobren Memorial Gymnasium, and 4 of the Blazers' 6 games in which they scored under 35 points have been at home.

Blair's next game is on Tuesday, January 27th, at 12-1 Blake, who's only loss came to Springbrook.. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Blair Blazers lost to the Springbrook Blue Devils today, 70-27. The Blazers committed 28 turnovers, and senior forward Mike McClain led Blair with 14 points. Four Blue Devils scored in double figures. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair 5 2 9 8 24
SHS 12 8 7 14 41

SILVER SPRING - - When it's not one thing, it's another for the Blair Blazers. In the games that Blair has lost this season, the problem has largely been turning the ball over to the other team. Last night against Sherwood, the Blazers were out rebounded 43-17 in a loss to the Warriors, 41-24.

The Blazers got out to a slow start in the first quarter, and never recovered. The Warriors outscored Blair 12-5 in the first, and out rebounded them 12-2. Four of Sherwood's rebounds were by point guard Devin Thomas, and seven of their rebounds were offensive.

"What hurt us the most with [Thomas] was his rebounding," coach Mark DeStefano said. "You know, he set the entire tone for the game, where on the first couple of possessions he comes flying out of nowhere to get the offensive rebound and gives their team another possession. When the smallest guy on the floor is doing that, it just takes the wind out of your sails. After the first quarter, he really didn't do much; he scored two points after the first. But he set a tone that we were unable to match and stay with."

Blair only committed one turnover in the first, but a large part of this was due to Sherwood's rebounding allowing the Warriors to hold on to the ball. The Blazers actually had less turnovers than the Warriors, 12 against Sherwood's 13.

"We won our last game, they've lost their last two, but you sure couldn't tell tonight by how these two teams played," DeStefano said. "We just held a team to 41 points in a high school game. They did not have a single guy score in double figures. When you play that kind of defense, and you force a team to shoot some shots that they don't want to shoot, you have to get the rebound, you have to reward yourself by getting the rebound, and unfortunately, our mentality, at least by the way we play sometimes, is we bust our tail on defense, and then we kind of just expect the ball to bounce to us. We just have to become a better fundamental team in terms of our aggression and how we go after things, a lot of that is footwork, and a lot of that is physical position on the court."

DeStefano became frustrated enough with the starters' effort that he subbed out all five of them with 6:07 left to go in the second quarter and the score 16-5 Sherwood. That unit held the Warriors to four points, but was only able to score two.

"I thought the second unit we put in played very very hard," DeStefano said. "They were really out manned in some cases, but they competed. I thought Josh Gordon came off [the bench] and played well. He didn't score but he played well, he battled hard. Eddie [Kolleh] came in and played well, I thought, you know, he took a charge, did the things he's capable of doing. We had guys who wanted to play well, but it just didn't happen tonight."

Thomas was the spark plug for the Warriors' offense. The senior point guard scored nine points, and had six rebounds, one assist, and two steals.

"It was a team effort," he said. "We boxed out, we stayed with our game plan, and we executed. We executed as a team, we did a good job of it."

Blair power forward Leon Sampson, averaging over eight rebounds per game, got his first rebound with little more than a minute left to play in the 3rd quarter. The third quarter was relatively successful for the Blazers, outscoring Sherwood 9-7.

"For the next week we've just gotta get hungry," Sampson said. "We just lack intensity, I don't know what it is,but we just started flat. So we've just got to pick it up and play with more intensity, so we don't press up into that big of a hole. We have to score the basketball, that's just what it comes down to."

Not a single player on either team scored in double digits on the day. The Blazers didn't score double digits in any quarter. Sampson scored seven points and senior guard Wayne Henderson scored 6 points, the only two Blazers to make more than one shot on the night.

"I can't say we're gonna struggle, but we just didn't hit shots," Henderson said. "We were doing dumb things, we were letting people go in front of us on the defensive side of the ball. Things that we never let happen happened today, and then we weren't rebounding, they just out rebounded us. Yeah, [we will recover]."

The Blazers' troubles all came back to struggles on the glass. The Warriors had 19 offensive rebounds - two more than Blair had total rebounds, and 43 total rebounds - two more than they had points. Blair had 6 offensive rebounds and 17 total - seven less than they had points.

"A lot of it is mentality," DeStefano said. "We have to just get the concept of boxing out, which we've kind of struggled with all year. You can't just run to the basket, because then you're gonna get shoved underneath and buried. We tell them in practice that they have to 'find a bad guy, get contact and go get the ball.' A couple times, we had great rebounding position, but we had guys with their hands below their waists, and you know you're not gonna get a rebound in a high school game with your hands down by your waist. We have to become a more aggressive team going after the ball and a more aggressive team seeking to get box outs."

Blair center Josh Kickenson scored the Blazers' first basket of the night and played great defense on Sherwood's big men, but did not get a single rebound.

"We just have to work on pretty much everything," he said. "Like our energy going out and we've got to work on our fundamentals. I'm gonna work on boxing out more and using feet."

The Blazers' next game is Friday, January 16th, at Richard Montgomery. The Rockets are 7-3, and beat Sherwood last week. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 P.M.

Blair lost to the Sherwood Warriors tonight, 41-24. The Blazers were outrebounded 43 to 17 on the night. No player on either team scored in double digits.

A full article will be posted in the next two days.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair (4-6) 14 9 11 16 50
Magr. (2-8) 10 7 12 18 47

ROCKVILLE - - After losing six straight games to fall to 3-6, the Blair Blazers finally got back on the winning track last night, defeating Magruder 50-47.

The Blazers started out with one of their strongest first quarters of the year, outscoring the Colonels 14-10 while committing no turnovers.

"That's how you win games," coach Mark DeStefano said. "You know, you get better, and you just keep working on stuff. It helped that Magruder didn't play a lot of man-to-man, they were in the zone, which let us dictate how we wanted to attack. When you take care of the basketball and make foul shots, you've got a chance to win, and that's what we did tonight."

With five minutes left in the second quarter, senior forward Leon Sampson slammed down an emphatic dunk from a Mike McClain pass, making the score 19-14 Blazers. Sampson would add in another dunk in the 3rd quarter to make it 32-21, but missed one later in the game. The senior had 15 points, 9 rebounds, an assist, and a block with no turnovers.

"I feel real good," Sampson said. "I feel real good. I'm just glad that we finally got a win. [Magruder] has ended our season for the last two years, so it's feels good to get this monkey off our backs. It just feels good to get out there and get the win. I'm always confident in my dunk, I've just got to wait for the time to present itself. [Missing a dunk] happens to the best of us, and I've just got to try to get more legs in me next time."

McClain added 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. The senior forward was able to get back to his old style of play, driving into the lane and drawing fouls. McClain was 8-8 from the free throw line, leading Blair's 15-17 effort.

"We're starting to gel more," he said. "We're starting to get that chemistry that we need, and we're just overall playing better. Turnovers are key because the previous four games we had over 100 turnovers [combined], and that's what's really been hurting us. So, if we cut down on turnovers, we're able to score more on offense."

Senior guard Wayne Henderson rounded out the Blazers "Big Three" with 12 points and three assists, his third straight game with double figures in points. Henderson drew tons of pressure throughout the game from the defense, but still managed to produce offensively.

"It was hard to score tonight," he said. "Like Coach said last game, it's hard to have three straight double digit games, I mean I did it, but it's tough. [Magruder assistant coach Richard] Porac teaches at Blair, he knows about me and he told them I was a shooter, so they got on me every time, and I just penetrated and looked for people. I mean I would have had more assists if we didn't dribble, but we dribbled off of some of them."

The "Big Three" combined for 41 of Blair's 50 points on the night. Coach DeStefano said that good play from them makes way for the rest of Blair's players to play well.

"Well, I don't think they need to come up with big production as much as they have to be effective," DeStefano said. "They were effective tonight, they did what we asked them to do, it looked like all three were trying to do it at the same time, they worked together, Mike found Leon, Leon found Wayne, Wayne found Mike. When those three are effective, it gives everybody else a chance to get some looks, and that's the way we have to play."

The Blazers' defense and bench play shone in the game. Blair has now held 7 of its 10 opponents to under 50 points this year. While the bench only scored six points (four by Cameron Reed, two by Dennis Mesidor), they did not "detract from the team or make any stupid mistakes", assistant coach Cedric Boatman said.

"That's all we as the bench really need to do, come off and play hard defense," backup center Ethan Brown said. "Defense is the number one factor in our success. Without defense, we can't win. We've always had good defense, but our offense has been struggling. So now we picked our offense up and we'll keep playing good defense, and we'll keep winning more games."

Mesidor, who saw increased minutes after playing very well in the blowout against Springbrook, once again had a strong game tonight.

"[The increased playing time] means a lot to me," he said. "It means that [coach DeStefano] sees improvement. He's working with me also, so when you add that, what he teaches me, I can put it into the game and do well."

Magruder point guard Tim Harwood scored 14 points for the Colonels. He hit two threes in the first quarter, but after Blair switched from a zone to a man-to-man, he was silent until the third, when he scored 8 of Magruder's 12. Harwood would not score another point, however, and missed a potential game-tying buzzer beater at the end of the fourth quarter.

Blair's next game is at home on Tuesday, January 13th, against 3-6 Sherwood. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 P.M.

The Blair Blazers broke their six game losing streak tonight, beating the Magruder Colonels 50-47 at Magruder. The Blazers did not commit a single turnover in the first quarter, and only had nine on the game. The "Big Three" of Leon Sampson, Wayne Henderson, and Mike McClain scored 41 points for Blair.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair (3-6) 10 13 1 16 40
Blake (11-0) 3 18 10 16 49

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers continued their losing streak last night, losing their 6th straight game, 49-40, to Blake. It was the Blazers third game out of their last four against an undefeated squad.

Blair started out extremely well on both ends of the court, outscoring the Bengals 10-3 in the first quarter. Blake did not make a single basket in the first quarter, getting all three points on free throws.

Blair's success waned in the second quarter, and it was a 23-21 Blazer lead at the half. At one point, with little more than two minutes left in the half, Blake had an 18-12 lead, and it finally looked like the Bengals were pulling away. However, Blair senior guard Wayne Henderson hit three straight three-pointers to make it 21-18 Blair.

"We called a timeout before that, and coach just said 'Shoot the ball', because I wasn't shooting," Henderson said. "I was just trying to pull up and force shots, so I just started shooting."

"[That sequence was] huge, especially since we're struggling so much to get points," coach Mark DeStefano said. "We have to have a guy who's not afraid to shoot the ball, who's not afraid to be offensively aggressive. [Wayne]'s made the realization that 'Hey, if I do what the coaches tell me to do, it's not going to restrict my game, it's going to expand my game.'"

Henderson led all players with 18 points, a season high for the guard.

"I'm just doing what coach says. He said 'Get shots up'," Henderson said. "Me, Mike [McClain], and Leon [Sampson] have to average at least 15 points [each] for us to win, because our team is not scoring. I mean, we scored 40 tonight, but usually that doesn't happen. We have to work on catching the ball, actually looking to score, and finishing layups."

"He's still learning to do a lot," DeStefano said. "He's doing so much with the ball in his hands now that he's never had to do before. As soon as he gets comfortable with his decision-making when he beats guys and can't get all the way to the rim, in that mid-range game, and he doesn't shoot the floater or get off balance but is nice and square and takes a good mid-range jumper, then he'll be even better."

DeStefano said he is very happy with Henderson's recent production, but warned not to expect the same when he faces teams a second time around.

"[Wayne]'s got the potential, in our county, to put up points on given nights," he said. "When we start seeing these teams the second time around, they're not going to let him do that. Blake's gonna know that if gets the ball in his hands that you've got to respect his speed and respect his shot. But that should establish and help the other guys. This is a team sport, other guys will have opportunities to score."

The third quarter was a complete role reversal, as the Bengals outscored Blair 10-1, making the score 33-24. Both teams scored 16 points in the final quarter, ending the game at 49-40.

According to DeStefano, much of the team's decline has been due to a lack of discipline from some of the players.

"There just comes a point where there's no magic answer," he said. "In tough times, in basketball and life, if you don't have good habits you rely on what you've always done, and if what you've always done isn't good enough, then things are never gonna change. And what's going on with us right now is we have a lot of guys, a few in particular, who simply want to do their own thing. Instead of doing what the coaching staff asks them, they think they're better than the game, they think they're better than the team, they think they're above the team, and we might have to make some changes, lineup-wise or personnel-wise, to find a combination of five guys who are willing to be coached. We did a lot of things tonight that we didn't do Monday night [against Springbrook] and that cost us the game, in terms of our decision making.

I know why it happens, but if kids aren't gonna listen to me, then what's the point? What's the point if I'm just gonna get ignored by somebody who thinks they're better than me?"

The Blazers once again had trouble holding on to the ball, committing 27 turnovers. It is their third game this season with at least 25 turnovers and fourth with at least 20. Also, Blair's bench was only able to score 2 points.

"Some of those turnovers were us just not catching the ball, and that's just concentration," DeStefano said. "You know, you hate to say it, but sometimes you've got to teach high school basketball players how to catch the ball. We tried to get guys some reps in the third quarter, we made some substitutes, and guys didn't produce. They didn't run the stuff we're asking them to run, they didn't do the stuff we wanted them to do. It's hard, because we can't find a rotation of guys to consistently do what we want done. Until that occurs, we're gonna have nights like tonight. We should have won this game tonight, I'll say it flat out. We should have won this game tonight."

Blazer starting point guard Cooper Neimand once again showed off his ball handling skills, using a great behind-the-back dribble and a quick change of direction to fake out defenders.

"My coach wants me to zig-zag, keep the defense moving," he said. "And I like to change speed to catch them off guard."

Leon Sampson continued his recovery from his tooth injury. The senior forward score 10 points with 18 rebounds, and held the Bengals' big men to only 6 points.

"Right now, I'm just trying to go out there and not think about [the injury] at all and just play," Sampson said. "It's hard, because teams know what they have to do against me - keep me off the boards and just try to play me hard. We're just not executing on offense. It's not our defense, it's our offense."

Sampson said that when guarding big men, he has an efficient plant to keep them in check.

"Most big men aren't very agile, they're powerful," Sampson said. "I know they try to get to the paint and get garbage buckets, so when I'm guarding a big man, my strategy is simple: Keep him off the glass, and when he gets the ball, keep in front of him."

Sophomore guard Ryan Frazier led the Bengals in scoring with 17 points. Frazier also had four rebounds, five steals, and was 12-16 from the free throw line.

"I felt like we could have played a lot better, but towards the end we pulled it together out on defense," Frazier said. "I think I hit [free throws] when they counted, I still got to work some, I missed four, but overall it was pretty good."

Senior forward Mike McClain scored 8 points and had 8 rebounds for the Blazers, but also accounted for 6 turnovers. Every Blair starter had at least three turnovers. Blake junior guard Carlton Agwu scored 12 points, and sophomore Brandon Headley had 9 points for the Bengals.

Blair's next game is tomorrow, January 9th, at 2-7 Magruder. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15.

The Blair Blazers lost to undefeated Blake tonight in a low-scoring affair, 49-40. The Blazers were leading at halftime, but committed 27 turnovers and allowed the Bengals to control the rest of the game. Senior guard Wayne Henderson led the Blazers in scoring for the second straight game, with 18 points. Senior forward Leon Sampson had 10 points and 18 rebounds.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair 15 10 9 12 46
SBHS17 18 20 14 69

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers traveled yesterday to Springbrook, the reigning 4A Maryland State champion, and lost their fifth straight game, 69-46. Blair coach Mark DeStefano is an alumnus of Springbrook, who was ranked #7 in the metro area by the Washington Post coming into the game.

Blair kept it close throughout most of the first half, and it was a ten point Springbrook lead at half time. A long Springbrook run at the end of the third quarter put the game out of reach, at 55-34.

"In the first half and the first part of the third quarter, I thought we played well," DeStefano said. "We played really hard. We definitely had a different purpose and a different intensity level tonight. We let things get away from us at the end of the first half a little bit. It was a five point game, we made a couple of turnovers and they converted. It was a ten point game until about three and a half minutes left in the third quarter, but then we made some more turnovers."

Blair forward Leon Sampson made his return from a tooth injury he suffered three weeks ago against Churchill. The senior scored six points with nine rebounds and three blocks, but committed six turnovers.

"Right now, my tooth is about 85-90%," Sampson said. "Give it another week or two and it should be back to full strength, but if I just go out there and don't think about it I'll be fine. First day back, I was a little rusty, but I'll be practicing tomorrow. Offensively, I think I could have played better but defensively, I think I did pretty well."

"I think he played as well as could be expected considering the circumstances," DeStefano said. "It was very physical out there, Springbrook's a very physical team, and he knows that."

Blair was outrebounded 32-21, and committed 21 turnovers to Springbrook's 8.

"We couldn't rebound the ball very well tonight," DeStefano said. "That was a real big factor, I thought we did a good enough job in our initial defensive push, but then we didn't get the ball and we gave them second chance and third chances. They're athletic and aggressive and they're playing at home, so they're gonna get points if we give them that, and they did. If we can minimize mistakes at crucial times like turnovers and really be consistent rebounding the ball and getting back on defense, we're gonna be pretty good in the long run. But it's a process, we're trying to get there little by little."

DeStefano said after the game that the team played a very tough and motivated game.

"They played hard, we told them that," he said. "I said I've got no qualms with how hard they played, they looked like they went out there with a purpose, like they wanted to go out there and compete, and it was top to bottom. I think that's something we have to have and we have to build on. Having said that, we missed a lot of easy shots, a lot of layups and stuff in close we should have made. That hurt. You know, when you get 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s and you don't convert, conversely it's 4-on-3 and 3-on-2 the other way."

Senior point guard and captain Eddie Kolleh came off the bench, and Cooper Neimand started for the Blazers. Kolleh played great defense and scored four points with one assist and one steal for the team.

"I felt I came out more aggressive," he said. "That's the reason I was on the bench, to be honest, I was too passive on offense, so I had to sit on the bench. I learned a lesson, I can't just be defensive-minded. Yeah, that's my strength, but I've gotta come out on both sides. If I'm only on defense, and I'm not helping on offense, then it's gonna be like 5-on-4 every time. So I understand why I'm on the bench. It's a lesson, you've got to take it and learn. All I care about is winning, I don't care who's starting or who's finishing, just winning."

Kolleh said that coming off the bench gives him less room to make mental errors on the court.

"When you're on the bench, this is what Coach Boatman told me, you're watching, so the mistakes that the starters make, at your position or in general, you can't come off the bench and make the same mistakes," he said. "You've been watching and you can see what's going on, so you know the tempo of the game. You've got to get in the flow of the game quickly, and after that, it's just playing basketball, having fun."

Late in the fourth quarter, Blair's subs came in and outscored Springbrook 12-4. Leading the pack was sophomore Dennis Mesidor, who scored five points with two rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, and no turnovers.

"I feel like I played pretty good," Mesidor said. "I mean, I'm just trying to work hard and do what I gotta do to support the team."

"I think Dennis has really stepped it up," DeStefano said. "He's learning a little bit every day, and it's really fun coaching a kid like that, who comes to practice and learns something new and competes and plays every day in practice. He's very raw, he's never played organized high school ball before. I thought Eddie [Kolleh] did a great job tonight coming off the bench, especially in the first half. Cameron [Reed], even at the end, came in and did good things at the end, he was in a little slump so maybe that's gonna get him out of it. Neil [Corran] came in and gave us some hustle plays in the first half. We need guys to come off the bench and do stuff like that on a nightly basis."

Senior guard Wayne Henderson was the leading scorer for the Blazers, with 12 points.

"Wayne took advantage of some of the opportunities that were there tonight, but he still missed some shots he should have made," DeStefano said. "He scored 12, he probably could have had close to 18. Part of making all those shots is realizing that that shot is there, and guys are starting to figure out 'Hey, I can get a shot here, I can get a shot there, and I can do some things offensively', and he's starting to figure that out and all the guys are starting to figure that out."

Senior forward Mike McClain had ten points, three assists, and five steals for the Blazers. Jamal Olasewere, Springbrook's best player, scored 17 points. The forward is averaging 20 points a game this season, including two 30 plus efforts against Paint Branch and Walter Johnson. Forward Zaid Hearst scored a season high 21 with 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils, and star guard Jeremy Williams scored 8 points. Guard Chris Carter led all players with 7 assists.

Blair's next game is tomorrow, January 7th, at home against undefeated Blake. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 P.M.

The Blair basketball team lost to Springbrook (ranked 7th in the metro area by the Washington Post) today, 69-46. Senior guard Wayne Henderson scored 12, senior forward Mike McClain scored 10 with 5 steals, and senior forward Leon Sampson had 6 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

Blair basketball continues it's season today at Springbrook at 5:15. The Blue Devils are ranked 7th in the metro area by the Washington Post and are 8-0. Blair is coming off of two disappointing losses in the Cougar Holiday Classic, and is 3-4.

The format for timing of games has changed for the rest of the season. Boys' varsity games will start at 5:15, and Girls' varsity games will follow at the same location. The same goes for JV, at the opposite location.

The Blair Blazers will face the Urbana Hawks in the first game of the Cougar Holiday Classic tomorrow. The Cougar Holiday Classic is a four game tournament that will take place from December 29th to December 30th at Quince Orchard high school. Urbana is currently undefeated.

Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 P.M.

12/27 Meineke Car Care Bowl - North Carolina (8-4) vs. West Virginia (8-4)

This is a matchup between two teams that had BCS hopes but lost two of their last four games. North Carolina lost three games (Virginia Tech, Virginia, Maryland) by a combined eight points, but were blown out by North Carolina State 41-10. Likewise, West Virginia lost three games (Colorado, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh) by a combined ten points, and were blown out by East Carolina 24-3.

Passing Offense - North Carolina. Neither team has had particularly impressive numbers on offense this season, but North Carolina has T.J. Yates back under center. Yates, who was injured for better than half of the season, has nine touchdown passes in the five games that he has started, and he ended the season on a high note with three against Duke. North Carolina junior wide receiver Hakeem Nicks will give the Tar Heels speed on the outside. The junior has 60 catches, 1,005 yards and 9 touchdowns this year. Passing is not really a big part of West Virginia's offense. The Mountaineers rank 109th in the country with 135.33 yards per game through the air. Senior quarterback Pat White passed for 1,510 yards and 18 touchdowns against 6 interceptions.

Rushing Offense - West Virginia. White leads the Mountaineers' three-headed rushing attack, who rank 12th in the country with 217.17 rushing yards per game. White has 919 yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground, and holds the NCAA career record with 4,425 rushing yards as a quarterback. Sophomore half back Noel Devine has had his breakout season this year, rushing for 1,271 yards and 3 touchdowns, including 207 yards against Auburn. Sophomore running back Jock Sanders leads the team in receiving, and has 632 yards of total offense and 9 touchdowns. The Tar Heels are ranked 86th in the nation with 125.08 yards per game on the ground, and are headed by sophomore running back Shaun Draughn. Draughn has 801 yards and 3 touchdowns this season, including 138 against Virginia earlier this season.

Passing Defense - West Virginia. The Mountaineers 14th and 38th in pass efficiency defense and pass defense, respectively, and are 2nd and 3rd in the Big East in those two categories. West Virginia held Rutgers' Mike Teel to 170 yards and one touchdown, Cincinnati's Tony Pike to 178 yards and one touchdown, and South Florida's Matt Grothe to 189 yards and two interceptions. Although the Tar Heels have picked off 19 passes this year, they rank 79th in pass defense, giving up 217.17 yards per game through the air. Teel threw for 243 yards (with three interceptions), Miami's Robert Marve threw three touchdown passes (with two interceptions), and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen threw for 383 yards (with two interceptions) against the Tar Heels.

Rushing Defense - West Virginia. Both teams have had their struggles this year against the run, the Mountaineers giving up 134.83 yards per game on the ground and the Tar Heels allowing 140.75, but West Virginia's linebackers set them apart. Mortty Ivy has 86 tackles, Jt Thomas has 64, Anthony Leonard has 58, and local boy (Wheaton High School) Pat Lazear has 27 in limited playing time. The Mountaineers held Connecticut's Donald Brown, who led the country in rushing this year, to 82 yards and one touchdown, South Florida's Mike Ford to 62 yards, and Louisville's Vic Anderson to 61 yards. Georgia Tech ran for 326 yards, Miami's Graig Cooper ran for 110 yards, and Brown ran for 161 yards against North Carolina.

While the Tar Heels have a tendency to pick off passes, West Virginia will not pass the ball often in this game, and when they do, it will be on screens. Pat White has won three straight bowl games in his West Virginia career, and look for that streak to continue Saturday. West Virginia in the first bowl game between big-name, big-conference teams this year.

Leon Sampson, Blair's star power forward and one of their four captains, was injured in last night game's against Churchill. Not all information is known, but it seems Sampson's tooth was smashed in during the third quarter of the game. He was taken to the emergency room soon after, leaving the game in a suit and tie.

Sampson is expected to be out for two weeks. Blair plays next in the Quince Orchard Holiday Classic on December 29th.

The Blair Blazers lost to Churchill last night, 44-29. Blair was winning 14-8 after first, but the Bulldogs outscored them 16-0 in the second quarter and the Blazers were never able to recover. Mike McClain and Wayne Henderson scored 11 and 10 points for the Blazers, and Churchill's Chase Hicks scored 11 points. Henderson held Bulldogs' star Elijah Gore to 2 points.

I'll be busy with bowl games today, so a full article will be up sometime today or tomorrow.

1 2 3 4
Blazers (3-1) 1 16 13 4
Wootton (1-3) 9 15 14 15

SILVER SPRING - - "We had almost the same amount of turnovers as we had points. 34 points in the game, 29 turnovers."

Those were the words of Blair captain and power forward Leon Sampson, accurately describing the Blazers' sloppy performance against the visiting Wootton Patriots. The Blazers lost, 53-34, in a game that the Patriots controlled from the beginning. Wootton led at the end of the first quarter 9-1, and Blair's offense struggled to recover.

"We've got to take better care of the basketball, it's as simple as that," Sampson said. "You can't point the finger, can't look at anybody else, you've got to look in the mirror and say, 'It's our fault.' We had 29 turnovers. Of course we only scored 34 points and they scored, what, fifty-something? It was a horrible game. We've just got to get back to the drawing board and work."

Four Blair players had four turnovers or more - Sampson, Wayne Henderson, Cooper Neimand, and Cameron Reed (6).

"It was both an individual lack of concentration and a team effort," coach Mark DeStefano said of the turnovers. "When we play a certain style, when we get very individualistic, our overall spacing is bad and our overall execution is bad, and then that leads to turnovers, because guys think they have to do everything on their own. If we would just come down and run our offense, and do what the coaching staff asked them to do instead of doing their own thing, we would probably, right there, cut down on half of those turnovers. So, our kids have a decision to make. They can start to listen to all of the experts in the stands and on the Internet, or they can listen to the coaching staff and do what they're being asked to do, and not sulk about it, and not pout, and learn to play together as a team."

DeStefano said that the team needs to get back to the basic fundamentals of the game in order to improve.

"[We need to work on] catching the ball, passing the ball, dribbling the ball, just basic fundamental things, that we actually honestly do work hard on everyday," he said. "But for some reason, our guys hit a mental block about transferring what we do in practice to games. They seemed to think it's two separate things, and when you can't pass, catch, and dribble, it's a difficult game, it's a very difficult game."

The score at the half was 24-17 Patriots, but there would be no second-half comeback for the Blazers this game. The Blazers became visibly more frustrated as the game went along, and individual players tried to take the game into their own hands instead of playing with the team strategy, DeStefano said.

"We had guys make decisions with the ball in their hands tonight that were just simply poor decisions," he said. "It was a poor decision when they started, it got poorer as the decision went on, and it usually resulted in a poor result. I don't know why, like I said, if we had guys who could take five defenders off the dribble and get to the rim, we'd be Montrose Christian, we'd be nationally ranked, we'd be DeMatha, we'd be somewhere else. We're not them. We don't have those guys. Our guys have to learn to play together and take care of the basketball and get the best shot for the offense, not just 'Let me get the ball out of my hands and put something up that's weak or put something up that's not gonna help our team.'"

Wootton senior forward Brian Hollins had a game-high 12 points, including 3 three-pointers.

"We've just been shooting a lot in practice," Hollins said. "I mean, we shot 28% last game and that killed us. The practice just paid off, we were shooting the ball a lot better and that's sort of what our offense is meant to do."

Hollins said that Wootton's wide zone scheme helped cause many of Blair's turnovers.

"Our zone is pressed out a lot, so it's really wide," he said. "And it sorta cuts off all the passing lanes. There's a lot of stupid errors if you try to pass it, they do get cut off a lot, so that helped a lot too. We just wanted to spread our zone on 'em, and then when we did run man[-to-man], we were up on the passing lanes, too."

Sampson led the Blazers with ten points and nine rebounds, and senior forward Dayne Bolt had another successful game coming off the bench, scoring seven points with five rebounds.

"We had too many turnovers," Bolt said. "Way too many turnovers. We had missed opportunities on everybody's part, just about everybody had a mess up...more than one."

Bolt has gotten progressively more minutes since sitting out the first game against Einstein, taking away playing time from starting center Josh Kickenson. DeStefano, however, says that the team has no plans to change the starting lineup.

"One of the things that I really like about Dayne is he kinda plays fearless, he just kinda goes out there and plays," DeStefano said. "He's gonna make his mistakes, but he's also gonna make plays. I think we're probably not gonna change too much [in our lineup], because we're only 3-1. We won 3 games with a certain lineup, playing a certain rotation, so I don't think it's worth abandoning ship right now just because guys in that rotation are playing poorly. They have to learn to play better, they'll be given the opportunity to play better, but if they don't play better, than we'll have to find someone to step in and get the job done. We have to put the best team on the floor, reputation be damned of any individual."

Blair's next game is Friday, December 19, at home against 2-2 Churchill. Churchill has two Division-1 prospects in guard Elijah Gore, averaging 14.5 points per game this season, and forward Chase Hicks, averaging 15.5 points per game.

"They're very good," DeStefano said. "They've been battling some injury and illness. They are probably, on paper at least, the best team we've played so far this season. So, if we make an effort like we did tonight, it's gonna get a lot uglier before it gets prettier."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blair Blazers lost to the Wootton Patriots tonight, 53-34. After three straight wins to open the season, the Blazers put on a sloppy performance in front of their home crowd, committing 29 turnovers. Leon Sampson scored 10 points with 9 rebounds and Mike McClain scored 8 points with 5 rebounds.

A full article will be posted tomorrow.

It's bowl season, and the matchups for college football's postseason were announced about a week ago. In the next few days, i will be giving my analysis and picks of all 34 bowl games, from the EagleBank Bowl to the National Championship game.

Tonight, Blair basketball plays at home against Wootton at 7 P.M.

Kennedy center Logan Ware, who was injured in last week's game against Blair, returned Friday night against Seneca Valley. Ware, who scored 14 points and had 7 rebounds in his one half of play against the Blazers, led the Cavaliers to an upset win over the Screaming Eagles, scoring 11 points with 15 rebounds. Angelo Adon scored 20 points for the Cavaliers, and George Fountain III had 19.

1 2 3 4 T
MBHS (3-0) 9 11 23 20 63
NWHS (0-2) 16 6 7 16 45

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers easily defeated rival Northwood last night, manhandling them in the second half on their way to a 63-45 victory.

The Blazers got off to a slow start once again, committing nine turnovers in the first quarter on their way to a 16-9 deficit. They were able to make it close in the second quarter, outscoring the Gladiators by five to make it a two-point game going into halftime.

"We get in at halftime and we try to correct what we're not doing well, and luckily it seems to be working," coach Mark DeStefano said. "We just need to be sharper in the first half. We played with good energy and we're doing a good job defensively, we just have to be sharper offensively, and really play with an even enough tempo where we can be effective. I think sometimes, our guys get a little too hyped, and it effects our offense more than our defense, and we've got to learn to kinda smooth things over a little bit."

Blair put the game out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring the Gladiators 23-7. The performance was capped off by the season's first dunk, a slam with four seconds left in the quarter by Leon Sampson. Cameron Reed drove down the court with time waning and fed the ball to Sampson in the paint. Sampson caught the ball and made a monstrous jam over an opponent. There was a brief moment of silence in the crowd, but as soon as the arena shook with the sound of the rim shaking the Blair fans came to their loudest point of a very loud night.

"I just felt a whole lot of emotion just let loose," Sampson said. "Everyday at school they ask me, 'Leon, can you just please dunk? Can you just please dunk?' I got out of it what they got out of it, because that was my first dunk in the regular season, so I was hyped and they were hyped. After that, we just fed off the crowd. Our defense picked up, just everything picked up."

Sampson had a career night for the Blazers, totaling 18 points and 17 rebounds. He also had two assists, two steals, and a block.

"Right now I feel my performance is good," Sampson said. "All the hard work I did over the summer is paying off, so I just feel good right now. But I owe all of my success to my teammates, because they find me and they give me the ball, and there's no complaints, no anything. Anyone can score, it just happens to be me right now."

"[Sampson's performance] was tremendous," DeStefano said. "Every game he plays he gets better, and his confidence has grown, and the kids' confidence in him has grown. It's been a long road for him to get to this point, and he still has a long way to go, but he's getting there. He works really hard at it, and I couldn't be any happier for the kid to have this kind of success at this point of the season. I only hope that he persists and stays with it, it's nice to see that he's doing what a lot of us feel he's been capable of doing from the very beginning."

Senior forward Dayne Bolt played extremely well off the bench, scoring 11 points and 7 rebounds.

"My mentality was to put everything up strong and to try and get as many rebounds as I can get," Bolt said. "Just earn my minutes."

Senior forward Mike McClain had another sound night for the Blazers, scoring 10 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. McClain said that Sampson's success opened the door for everyone else on the team.

"[Sampson's success] always helps," he said. "Because when he draws players, it just opens up for everybody else on the team, so not only me, but everybody else.

"We got off to a very weak first half [again], which always makes it hard in the second half, but we were able to come back and we fought through and we pulled out the win. I know if I get by the man, I get him on my back, then I'm at an advantage, so a lot of the times I'm able to draw the foul."

This is the third straight game where the Blazers have struggled in the first half, only to rebound in the second to score a victory. DeStefano said that this pattern will not work against tougher teams later in the season.

"[We had a] great effort in the second half, we just gotta find something to jump start us in the first half, so we 're not so listless," he said. "At some point though, it's not gonna be enough to go into halftime and try to fix what's wrong, you're gonna have to actually get it right the first time, and I think that time's coming quickly."

Blair guard Wayne Henderson scored six points for the Blazers, and forward Neil Corran had six rebounds. For Northwood, center Edward Byson scored 12 points, collected 12 rebounds, and had 4 steals, and guard Nick Sparacino led the team with 16 points and had 6 rebounds.

Blair's next game is Tuesday, December 16, at home against Wootton. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 P.M.

The Blair Blazers defeated rival Northwood tonight, 63-45, in another second half routing. Blair outscored the Gladiators 43-23 in the second half. Senior forward Leon Sampson was the star of the game, scoring 18 points and collecting 17 rebounds, and senior Dayne Bolt scored 11 points and had 7 rebounds off the bench.

A full write-up will come tomorrow.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair (2-0) 6 12 19 13 50
Kennedy (0-2) 9 18 13 7 47

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers rallied to defeat the Kennedy Cavaliers Tuesday night, 50-47, in front of an excited home crowd.

Kennedy came out with a 27-18 halftime lead, thanks to the dominant play of senior center Logan Ware. Ware, who was sidelined for the rest of the game after injuring his ankle at the end of the second quarter, had 14 points and 8 rebounds, 7 of them offensive, at the half.

"It's unfortunate for them that Logan gets hurt," Blair coach Mark DeStefano said. "He was just dominant in the first half, and dominant because we knew what he was gonna do, and he did it anyways. That's just great basketball, when you're able to do that kind of thing. Like I said, unfortunately for them he gets hurt, but fortunately for us it did change the tenor of the game a little bit. It allowed [senior forward] Leon [Sampson] to be a lot more aggressive, [senior forward] Mike [McClain] got a little more aggressive, and it worked out for us in the end, but it's unfortunate that [he got hurt]."

The Blazers outscored the Cavaliers 32-20 in the second half, the second game in a row that the team played much better after halftime.

"For whatever reason, we don't approach the first half with the kind of mental attitude that we need to have," DeStefano said. "We just don't come out and play hard, and at halftime we make some adjustments. Today it was just really a motivation thing, kinda giving the kids a gut-check, and saying forget about winning or losing, just play better basketball. Just go out and play good basketball, and right before the second half we said let's get it inside two possessions by the fourth quarter, and we were able to do that, and we felt confident that we could maybe squeak one out at the end."

Senior guard Wayne Henderson, who is known for his long-range accuracy, struggled all night with his shot, scoring only six points with no three pointers.

"We just played better in the second half," Henderson said. "Even though we were winning in the first half of the last game, we played better in the second half. We're just a second half team for some reason, but Coach wants us to play the whole game and come out strong instead of coming out weak and doing what we did in the first half, losing by nine. We didn't play with heart and Logan [Ware] was getting all the boards, loose balls, everything, and putting them back up, and that's why they were winning the game."

Junior guard Cameron Reed tied up the game at 45 for the Blazers with four minutes to go with a lay-up. With 55 seconds left, McClain took the Blazers' first lead of the game with two free throws, making the score 48-47. With 12 seconds left, Kennedy senior swingman George Fountain III took a three point shot from the baseline and missed. Blair senior forward Dayne Bolt got the rebound and handed it off to Reed, who was immediately fouled. With a one-and-one opportunity, Reed missed the first free throw, and Kennedy rebounded. Reed hustled back, however, and got the steal at half-court. He handed the ball off to McClain, who was fouled. McClain made both free throws to seal the victory.

"One of things we always preach is 'Win the next play,'" DeStefano said. "Whatever happens right there, you can't sit there and sulk, you have to go win the next play. [Reed] made that play and got the ball to Mike and Mike got fouled and hit the foul shots, and I told him that's the way to win the next play."

"Well, I know I let my team down by missing the easy free throw," Reed said. "I've been working on my free throws all summer, so I was like 'I gotta get it back quick, I gotta make it up for my team', so I didn't let that free throw get in my head and I just went back and made a play for our team. Every game I just want to bring a spark off the bench, you know, something positive for the team, so that we can consistently play up to that level and win."

Reed was also instrumental in Blair's win over Einstein, as he scored 10 points and collected 3 steals off the bench.

"[Reed] brings energy off the bench for us, and that's vital as well," DeStefano said. "You know, he makes a play where you absolutely have to make it, because he plays hard. Dayne Bolt does the same thing. When we have guys like that, who are willing to step in and do those little things, it allows us to take advantage of match ups like Leon and Mike, because we had other guys who were helping the team out in that way. We just were very fortunate to win the game tonight. We didn't outplay them. We just won the game. They beat us, we just won."

Sampson led the team with 16 points and 12 rebounds. McClain had 14 points and 5 rebounds, and Henderson and Eddie Kolleh each contributed 3 steals. Angelo Adon had 14 points for the Cavaliers, and Fountain finished with 10 points.

The Blazers' next game is at rival Northwood Friday, December 12th. Blair lost against Northwood at home last year, and the defeat is still imprinted on the minds of the Blazers.

"We've got to come out strong because last year they beat us here by three in a game just like this one," Henderson said. "They just pulled it out because we didn't play with heart."

"Hopefully, going down the street to Northwood, with last year's game in our heads when we lost that game here at home, we'll have the right mental attitude," DeStefano said. "If we don't, it's gonna be another long night, it's gonna be another long and trying night."

DeStefano said the team had a lot to work on in the coming practices.

"[We're going to practice] a little bit of everything," he said. "It sounds crazy, but we've gotta catch the ball better. We've gotta learn not to be so casual with the basketball when it is in our hands. We have to practice catching the ball, we have to practice execution, we definitely got to get better on defense, in terms of boxing out, but that's coaching, that's basketball. The good thing about a win like this is there's so much we can improve on. We have ample material for practice probably for the next three weeks."

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

I'm sorry, my article on last night's Blair-Kennedy game has been delayed a little bit. I will definitely have it up tomorrow.

The Blair Blazers beat the Kennedy Cavaliers tonight, 50-47, in a game that went down to the wire. The Blazers took their first lead with 55 seconds to go in the game on two Mike McClain free throws. Cameron Reed, with the score 48-47 Blair, missed a free throw for the Blazers, but managed to get the steal on the Kennedy rebound to secure the Blair victory.

A full post will be up tomorrow.

1 2 3 4 T
Blair (1-0) 15 15 20 17 67
Einstein (0-1) 14 13 14 6 47

KENSINGTON - - In the first game of the season, the Blair Blazers were able to wear out the Einstein Titans, running up and down the court for a 67-47 victory.

The game was tightly contested until the second half, when Blair's conditioning really made the difference in pulling out the victory. It was a close game at halftime, as the Blazers hung on to a 30-27 lead, but Blair blew them away in the second half, outscoring Einstein 37-20.

Blair seniors Wayne Henderson and Leon Sampson tied for a game-high 15 points.

"First half, we really slumped, we played terrible," Henderson said. "Second half, we stepped our defense up and we played way better. We looked like a whole different team. It was a matter of a half that makes the difference in the game."

Sampson, 6'8", was able to set up Henderson for open threes on the outside.

"Leon set me up because he's a big huge thing in the middle," Henderson said. "So he just set me up. He got the ball, they collapsed, he kicked it out, and I just did my job, just shoot."

Sampson said he learned how to get Henderson easy looks from the coaching staff.

"Well, I just take what Coach Boatman and Coach DeStefano tell me," he said. "When the big man's supposed come to the elbow [where the free-throw line and the side of the key meet], he's supposed to swing straight through and look opposite. They were all sucked underneath because of my height so I just kicked it out to Wayne. Easy bucket."

The Blazers dynamic defensive improvement was shown in the fourth quarter, where they only allowed six points, four of which came with two minutes or less in the game. The Blazers were able to hold gigantic Kelson Patterson (6'6", 280 pounds) to four points and five rebounds. Patterson and DeAndre Frye, the other Einstein star, each had three turnovers. Leading the way on defense for Blair was senior point guard Eddie Kolleh, who had four steals, three assists and four points, along with being the court leader on both sides of the ball.

"I feel we played way better in the second half, it looked more like how we practiced," Kolleh said. "First half, we could tell everyone had jitters - it's the first game. Second half, we came out, we had to do what we had to do."

Kolleh, who seems to have a limitless source of energy on the court, showed to all watching that he will never let up and will always give all that he has to give.

"I just want it more than the other person," Kolleh said. "We did so much work over the summer, especially me. Last year, I sat the bench, so I've got something to prove to everybody, my teammates, my coaches, everybody."

Sampson, who also had six rebounds and the game's only two blocks, spoke on how important it is for the Blazers' defense to set up the Blazers' offense.

"First half I wasn't happy with the defense, because we can play a lot better than that," he said. "Second half, I think the coaches' speech made us able to lock down [on defense], and once we lock down, the offense is able to open up. We're a transition team this year. If we're able to lock down, it's good for the whole team."

For Blair, senior forward Mike McClain had ten points and nine rebounds, junior guard Cameron Reed had ten points and three steals, and senior forward Neil Corran had a game-high ten rebounds, four of them offensive. Einstein guards Nick McMillan and Ryan Toledo had the best games for the Titans. McMillan scored seven points with six rebounds and five steals, while Toledo had a team-high ten points and pulled in five rebounds.

The Blazers next game is on Tuesday, December 9th, at home against 0-1 Kennedy. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Blazers' basketball team beat the Einstein Titans today, 67-47. Seniors Leon Sampson and Wayne Henderson led the team with 15 points. Forward Neil Corran led the Blazers with 10 rebounds. Mike McClain had 11 points with 9 rebounds. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

The voting for Fox 5's game of the week has just finished, and Blair-Einstein has been chosen. The final tally:

Blair-Einstein: 51%
Bladensburg-Paul VI: 42%
Dunbar-Sutiland: 5%
Georgetown Prep at St. John's: 2%

This is the expected starting lineup for Blair tomorrow against Einstein:

PG - Eddie Kolleh (Senior)
SG - Wayne Henderson (Senior)
SF - Mike McClain (Senior)
PF - Leon Sampson (Senior)
C - Josh Kickenson (Sophomore)

If you go to the following link, you can vote for Friday's Blair-Einstein game as Fox 5's Game of the Week. The game will be featured on FOX 5 and myfoxdc.com, according to the website. Blair-Einstein has held the lead the whole week, but needs your help to close it out.

http://wttg.4wmt.com/packages/templates/anonymous/simple.aspx?pageid=eaf47a85-b3ea-46f3-b7dc-3f7adb8ba26f

Voting closes in about two hours, at 12:00 P.M.

The Blazers Basketball team opens up their season with a game at Einstein on Friday, December 5th. Last year, the Blazers beat the Titans in the first home game of the season with an impressive 53-37 win. This year, the Blazers expect a similar result.

"We expect, on Friday, domination on the defensive side of the ball and for us to run them down the court," senior guard Wayne Henderson said.

Last year against Einstein, forward Mike McClain led all players with 21 points, his highest total all year. He later matched the feat with 21 against Wootton later in the season.

"Einstein's a big game for us," McClain, now a senior, said. "Starting off with a win would really gives us a lot of confidence, and could really set the tone for us the rest of the season. I'm just ready to play."

Blair fans can practice cautious optimism for the season opener. The team gelled last night in a preseason scrimmage and beat weak opponent Rockville handedly, but the Blazers were outscored in the first quarter. The Titans only return one player, DeAndre Fry, from a team that went 14-10 last year, so the game will be a good indicator of how both teams will do this season.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Last year, the Blair Blazers' football team had a dreadful record of 0-10. This year, they finished with a respectable 5-5. Last year, the Blazers' boy's basketball team finished at 5-17. This year, they hope for similar improvement.

In coach Mark DeStefano's third year in charge of Blair Basketball, the team looks to turn around from a disappointing season last year. Seniors Mike McClain and Leon Sampson, standing at a towering 6'5" and 6'7", are the team's only two returning starters, but DeStefano is looking to put out the best grouping of players to help the team win.

"After [McClain and Sampson] it becomes kind of a mixed bag," DeStefano said. "That's what we're trying to figure out, the best combination that we can put out there. Eddie Kolleh and Wayne Henderson are both seniors who have been playing very well, they had great summers. We've got a couple of sophomores in the mix, Josh Kickenson and Ethan Brown. Cameron Reed, who's a junior, had a great scrimmage on Saturday, and Trey Moses, who's another junior, had a great scrimmage on Saturday. There's a lot of possibilities we have in terms of combinations."

DeStefano also stated that he wants the team not to get too lackadaisical on the offensive end and wants them to play strong defense.

"We want to move the ball and try to play with a sense of urgency on the offensive end, sometimes we tend to get a little too casual," he said. "On defense, we just want to continue what we started last year and try to eliminate teams' transition opportunities and take away easy three point shots, and if we do that, we should hopefully have a chance to be competitive and win some games during the season."

I would like to start by apologizing for the brief hiatus, a combination of work piling up for me and the break in between the end of fall sports season and the start of winter sports season was responsible for the lack of activity here, but the blog is now back in full swing. As some of you may know, the Blazer Football team finished the season with an upset win against up-county rival Damascus and a loss to Springbrook, ending their playoff hopes. I was unable to attend either game.

For the winter season, I will primarily be covering the Blazer Boys Basketball team. The squad had five wins and seventeen losses last season and made it to the second round of the playoffs. They return six players (all seniors) from last year's varsity team, including players to watch Mike McClain and Leon Sampson. I hope to have a full preview of the team in the coming weeks.

The season opens for the Blazers on December 5th at Einstein High School. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM.

SILVER SPRING - - The Blair Blazers overcame their three game losing streak with an easy victory over the Kennedy Cavaliers, winning 27-15.

The Blazers' first score came on a 29-yard screen pass from Victor Wang to Jonathan Haughton on the right side. Haughton caught the pass behind the line of scrimmage, and followed the blockers for an easy score and a 7-0 Blazer lead.

"The line just executed," senior running back Pablo Moreno said. "On all their assignments they were just able to execute, put a helmet on somebody and just clear a path to give the running backs some room to get through."

Star players Dayne Bolt and David Burnett returned from injury for the Blazers and were largely responsible for the Blazer victory. Bolt scored a 9-yard touchdown and a two point conversion to give the Blazers a 15-8 lead, and both of the Blazers' rushing touchdowns as well as Haughton's screen pass were to the side Burnett was blocking on.

"It's a huge momentum booster," Burnett said. "Just because we have a game that's really hard this weekend, we have to prepare a lot for it, so we have a lot of momentum coming into that game. We haven't won a game in three weeks, so this brings a lot of confidence to the team."

Burnett also declared that he was back to full health.

"I tore it up today," he said. "I'm back in full effect, that's what I'm telling everybody. One hundred percent."

Senior running back Keith Ayensu had another big run for the Blazers, a 60-yard touchdown toss that he took down the field with ease.

"I got hurt in practice, so I wasn't sure if I was gonna play," Ayensu said. "The O-linemen blocked in front of me, and I just went with it. We have Damascus in front of us, so we just gotta stay focused and get back to basics."

Fullback Moreno also returned to form, gaining 77 yards on 7 carries.

"This gives us a lot [of momentum]," he said. "This is momentum that we've needed for a long time."

All Blazers are looking towards next week's match-up against perennial powerhouse Damascus, where the Blazers will come in as a severe underdog.

"We just needed this win so we could get a momentum boost going for Damascus next week," Bolt said.

On the defensive side for the Blazers, senior linebacker Andy Holmes had a team-high seven tackles, Haughton had 6 tackles, including three sacks, and Ibrahim Jarr had 5 tackles. Defensive backs Dimitrios Philliou and Chris Grindley each intercepted a pass for the Blazers.

The Blazers passed efficiently as well. Wang completed three of four passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns, the second a seven-yard strike to Andrew Gondor that sealed the deal for the Blazers.

The Blazers play Friday, October 31st, at home against Damascus. The game starts at 6:30 P.M.

SILVER SPRING - On Senior Night, the Lady Blazers' soccer team ran over the visiting Northwood Gladiators, 7-0.

All seniors started the game for the Blazers, but most were taken out with around 20 minutes left in the first half.

"Not all of my seniors are starters, but no matter who we're playing, I always start all the seniors [on senior night]," coach Robert Gibb said. "And then I started them all in the second half. They were bound to be in on the play, it was great."

Fittingly two seniors combined for the Blazers' first goal, scored five minutes into the first half. A beautiful cross from Jeanette Chavez was kicked in by Jenny Williams for an easy score, giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead. With a little over twelve minutes left in the half, senior captain Annie Worden scored on a breakaway from Jamie Kator, and Saleiha Mayer-Marks scored off of a Kator corner kick five minutes later.

"The seniors had six of the seven goals," Gibb said. "Its great. Last year we had six seniors and we played Wheaton and they all scored, but it's not something that we necessarily try to do. I do play them, though."

Although the Blazers scored seven goals, the defense stole the spotlight, holding Northwood without a shot for the entire game. The Gladiators also did not pass midfield for the first fifteen minutes.

"Our game is to control the ball and to control the midfield with passing the ball," Gibb said. "Defensively, on a night with this amount of wind and tricky conditions, we just wanted to get the heck out of there."

Senior goalie Xenia Oroxom played the entire game, earning her eighth win of the season. Oroxom has only allowed four goals this season, and said that the talent of her defense made it a lot easier on her.

"It felt really great to not handle the ball half the time because my defense was there," Oroxom said. "I have a lot of confidence in my defense, it felt really good that they were behind the ball and they were there."

Usually, Oroxom splits time with freshman Lena Meyerson, but played the whole game and got the shutout.

"I think our team this year could take it all the way," Oroxom said. "Because we've done some amazing things and beaten teams we haven't beaten before, like Wooton."

Worden, an All-State honorable mention last year, added another goal later in the game to bring her Blair record career total to 56. Seniors Chavez, Anna Rassman, and Susie Branson scored the other three goals for the Blazers.

"We've got speed in the back," Gibb said. "And especially tonight we just played it out quickly, but really it was just about controlling the field and controlling the ball and dictating the flow of play that really kept the defense from having to do too much."

The Blazers play Churchill in the second round of the playoffs Tuesday, October 28, at Blair. The game starts at 7 PM.

The Blazers easily handled the Kennedy Cavaliers today, 27-15, getting their first win since September 26th. Quarterback Victor Wang threw for two touchdown passes, and Dayne Bolt and Keith Ayensu each had a rushing touchdown. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

The Blair Blazers' girls soccer team handled the Northwood Gladiators with ease tonight, defeating the rival school by a score of 7-0 on Blair's senior night. Seniors scored six of Blair's seven goals, including two by captain Annie Worden, and Northwood did not attempt a single shot the entire night. A full article will be posted in the coming days.

The standings as of today in Montgomery County, 4A East Division (division record in parentheses):

1. Sherwood 7-0 (4-0) - Sherwood had the biggest win of the year for any 4A East team, upsetting The Washington Post's number one ranked team, Quince Orchard. The Warriors bested the Cougars last week 14-6, keeping their undefeated record intact. They are favored heavily in this week's matchup against Richard Montgomery, who is 1-6 this year.

2. Springbrook 5-2 (2-2) - The Blue Devils, whose two losses (Sherwood and Gaithersburg) have come by a combined 10 points, continued to impress with a 38-14 win over Blake. Look for a good matchup this week against 4-3 Northwest, whose victories include Wooton and Gaithersburg.

3. Gaithersburg 4-3 (3-0) - The Trojans lost their third game of the year last week at Northwest, but are still unbeaten in division play. This week they face the Watkins Mill Wolverines, losers of three straight (including perennial bottom-dwellers Kennedy and Einstein), and expect an easy win.

4. Magruder 3-4 (1-2) - The Colonels, whose offense has still yet to break the 20-point mark this year, surprised many with a victory over Churchill last week, whose only previous loss was to Quince Orchard. The Colonels' defense has also allowed 12 points or fewer in every one of their victories. Magruder hopes to continue this success against Wooton and Mike Mooney's high flying passing attack.

5. Blair 3-4 (1-3) - The Blazers, who have scored only a single touchdown in each of their three consecutive losses, hope to turn it around against a very poor Kennedy team this week. The Blazers are helped by the return of star fullback/linebacker Dayne Bolt. This game can help show whether the Blazers' fast start was a fluke or whether they are a truly competitive team.

6. Blake 1-6 (0-4) - The Bengals round out the division with a winless division record thus far after being routed by Gaithersburg and Springbrook in the last two weeks. The Bengals' only victory this season came against hapless Walter Johnson, but they hope to upset 4-3 Paint Branch this week.

ROCKVILLE - Last night's meeting between two 3-3 teams turned out to be a complete mismatch.

The Wootton Patriots stomped over the visiting Blair Blazers, 36-7, to knock the Blazers below the .500 mark for the first time this season. It is the third straight loss for the Blazers and the third game in a row where they have only managed to scrape together 7 points. The Blazers were unable to get anything together offensively without star players Dayne Bolt and David Burnett, who both missed the game due to injury, but the real reason for the outcome was the play of Mike Mooney against the Blazers' secondary.

Mooney, the Patriots' quarterback, set a Maryland state record with 451 passing yards, besting the previous record of 448 held by former Oakland Mills quarterback Justin Sottilaire, set in September of last year. Mooney was outstanding, evading the Blazers' pass rush and using perfect timing to dump off screens underneath, which set up his accurate long passes later .

"I don't know why we weren't able to defend it," Blair quarterback Alex Egber said. "We saw in game film that they used a lot of screens, but that just didn't translate on the field. You know the saying, the run sets up the pass? Well in this case, the screen set up the long pass."

Mooney's first of three passing touchdowns came on a screen play to the right side that Matt Grimm took 52 yards to the end zone. A long pass on Wootton's next drive set up a rushing touchdown for Mooney and a 13-0 Patriots' lead.

"We need to work on our secondary," senior linebacker and captain Andy Holmes said. "The deep pass beat us, the screen beat us, we just need to work on picking up the pass better. [We need to] just go hard every single day, take it serious every single day, just do what we have to do, and then show up on Friday."

Wootton took a 29-0 lead on a Mooney 52-yard pass to the back of then end zone, a 41-yarder to a wide-open Matt Paris in the end zone, and a field goal.

"We just get beat, they just beat the hell out of us," Blair coach Jeffery Seals said. "There's nothing to say, we got beat bad. We stunk on defense, we stunk on offense. We'll come back Monday. This game is over with, you can't bring it back. Just don't think about it, it's over with. You can't bring it back."

Senior running back Jonathan Haughton salvaged a little dignity for the Blazers with a 66-yard dash to the end zone with around three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Haughton broke to the right side, and there was nobody in his way to the end zone.

"All I saw was open field, and I knew I had to put up some points somehow, so I just gave it my all and ran to the touchdown," Haughton said. "I really didn't know [that it was going to be a touchdown] 'til I got to the 20 and I saw nobody around me. It's pretty exciting we scored, but we still lost and we got a lot of things to work on. We need to work on our blocking, our pass protection, everything in general, we got to get this win next week."

Wootton junior Alex Kelly finished off the Blazers with a 24-yard touchdown run.

During the course of the game, star defensive players Charles Camara, Leo Kengni, and Chris Grindley were injured for the Blazers. According to Holmes, Camara, Kengni and Bolt are all expected to play next week against Kennedy, and Burnett is expected to come back in time for Damascus in two weeks. The status of Grindley is unknown.

The Blazers play at Kennedy next Friday, October 24th, at 6:30 P.M.

The Blazers lost to the Wooton Patriots today, 36-7, making their record 3-4 on the season. The Patriots' non-stop aerial attack moved the ball swiftly down the field, and the Blazers were unable to stop quarterback Mike Mooney. Senior running back Jonathan Haughton got the Blazers only score, a 66-yard dash in the fourth quarter. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

Friday night, the Blair Blazers lost to the heavily favored Sherwood Warriors, 35-7. Keith Ayensu scored the Blazers' sole touchdown. I was in Philadelphia at the Dodgers-Phillies game at the time, and I hope to speak to coaches and players in the next coming days, but I can not promise anything in terms of a full article.

Here are the standings for Montgomery County 4A East as they stand today:

1. Sherwood (5-0) - at Blair. Coming off two comeback wins against Northwest and Springbrook, the Warriors are looking for a blow out win like the ones they delivered earlier this year to Magruder, Paint Branch and Blake (a combined score of 133-6 for the three games).
2. Gaithersburg (3-2) - at Blake. The Trojans are coming off two straight losses, including a 35-0 massacre to Quince Orchard, and will be looking for revenge against the lowly Bengals.
3. Blair (3-2) - vs Sherwood. Blair made easy work of Blake and Northwood, but squeaked by Whitman and lost to Gaithersburg and Magruder. Which Blair shows up will determine whether this is a close game or a Sherwood blowout.
4. Springbrook (3-2) - vs Paint Branch. The Blue Devils have been surprising this year, and lost by only one touchdown to heavily favored Sherwood last week.
5. Magruder (2-3) - at Damascus. The Colonels beat Blair 12-7 last week, and are hoping that star running backs Marquis Morgan and Chris Ralli can run around the tough Hornets defense.
6. Blake (1-4) - vs Gaithersburg. Blake is coming off of a 33-14 loss to Churchill, and their only win this year has come against winless Walter Johnson. That game is the only one that they have scored more than 14 points in this season.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend tonight's Blair-Sherwood game, as I have tickets to the Dodgers-Phillies game in Philadelphia tonight. I will be in contact with several players and coaches tomorrow and Sunday to gather how the game went to get the best idea that I can, but I will not be able to be at the game.

ROCKVILLE - - The Blair Blazers lost to Magruder at their homecoming game Friday night 12-7, dropping their record on the season to 3-2. Their only other loss, to Gaithersburg two weeks ago, was also a homecoming game.

Magruder's senior fullback Chris Ralli put the Colonels on top with a one yard run in the first quarter, making the score 6-0. Later in the quarter, the Blazers were able to make an important defensive stop. Quarterback Griffin Eldrige completed a 34-yard pass to Charlie Nardella, bringing the Colonels to Blazers' 11-yard line. On second-and-seven at the eight-yard line, Blazers' defensive tackle Charles Camara took down Magruder running back Marquis Morgan for a four yard loss. On the ensuing play, Andrew Gondor deflected an Eldridge pass into the end zone. The Colonels elected to go for it on fourth-and-eleven, and turned the ball over on downs with an incomplete pass.

Later in the half, a Pablo Moreno forced fumble and a Camara recovery gave the Blazers the ball at the Colonels' 35-yard line. Later in the drive, on fourth-and-one at the Colonels' 24-yard line, senior running back Dayne Bolt swept outside for an eleven-yard gain and an important Blazers first down. Moreno followed up with a 12-yard run of his own, bringing the ball to the one-yard line, where Bolt punched it in to take a 7-6 Blazer lead.

In the second half, the Colonels took back the lead, as Morgan scampered to the right side for a five-yard touchdown. With a little over two minutes left in the game, the Blazers had a fourth-and-two in Colonels' territory. Bolt, who had been taken out of the game due to an ankle sprain earlier, came back in to try and take the lead for the Blazers, but could not get the first down.

"We need to improve on our offensive side of the ball," Bolt said. "Yesterday in practice we didn't do too [well] on offense. We really need to start jelling and score more points on offense, that's where we need the most improvement right now."

Bolt also discussed his injury, which sidelined him for the majority of the second half.

"After I caught the ball, a dude rolled on to my ankle," he said. "I rolled my ankle on the inside, it's just a high ankle sprain right now. Hopefully it'll feel better next week."

Magruder fumbled the snap on the first play after Blair's turnover-on-downs, and Moreno quickly recovered, giving the Blazers a last chance to take the lead with less than two minutes left to play. On the next play, however, Magruder cornerback Kendall Talbert intercepted an Alex Egber pass, ending all hope for the Blazers.

"We just have to want it more, especially on the offensive line," senior captain and linebacker Andy Holmes said. "We have to want it more, we have to push harder than the other guys, hit harder than the other guys and just run harder than the other guys, and that's what it really comes down to."

Next week, the Blazers play undefeated Sherwood, one of the top teams in the county.

"I really don't know what to expect this week," Holmes said. "Sherwood is one of the best teams in the county right now, and I think we have the potential to be one of the best teams in the county, but the last couple of games we haven't really met our potential. It depends on which team comes out against Sherwood."

The Blazers play the Warriors at home Friday, October 10th at 6:30 P.M.

"Next week is going to be a dog fight," Bolt said. "We gotta go out there and put up as much points as we possibly can. We need to give 150% next week, it's gonna be a tough game."

MAGRUDER - - The Blair Blazers lost to the Magruder Colonels today, 12-7. Dayne Bolt scored the Blazers' sole touchdown, and a late interception by the Colonels sealed the game. Numerous Blazers were injured during the course of the game, and I will try to keep you updated on the status of these players as the week goes on.

A full article will be posted tomorrow, Sunday October 5th.

The standings as of today in Montgomery County, 4A East Division:

1. Sherwood (4-0)
2. Gaithersburg (3-1)
2. Springbrook (3-1)
2. Blair (3-1)
5. Magruder (1-3)
5. Blake (1-3)

SILVER SPRING - - In a tight game until the end, the Blair Blazers continued their newfound success, beating the Whitman Vikings 13-7 at home Friday night.

The Blazers struggled offensively throughout the game, but they were able to make the big play when it counted, a 75-yard fourth quarter dash by senior running back Keith Ayensu to tie up the game.

"We were down 7-0, I was just thinking, I gotta make a play," Ayensu said. "We got someone to block the safety, and I was able to outrun the whole defense. I saw everybody running towards the sidelines, so I just made a quick cut up the field. I went straight, and nobody could catch me."

On Whitman's next drive, senior captain Leo Kengni, returning from a one-game suspension, forced a fumble that fellow captain Dayne Bolt recovered.

"Our defense really stepped up today, shut 'em down, and did what they had to do," linebacker Andy Holmes said. "Having Leo back was great, Leo's an incredible player. We played our best defensive football today, [but] we need to combine that defensive game with the offensive game from Northwood or Blake. We gotta put the pieces together at the same time. All the elements are there, and I think the rest of the county is starting to notice that, so it's just a matter of time before we put it all together in a big game."

Bolt would punch it in from the one-yard line on the resulting drive to take the lead for Blair. Andrew Gondor missed the extra point, and the score was 13-7.

"Seriously, we didn't play too well, we knew we could've blown these guys out way more than we did," Bolt said. "But that victory, that W in that win column is what we wanted, and we fought extra hard for that."

Bolt acknowledged that if the team was to seriously contend in the state playoffs, they will need to improve.

"We gotta practice even harder, we gotta go 175 percent," Bolt said. "'Cause the way we played tonight, we could've easily lost. We talked about a shut down defense, and we shut them down."

Whitman, led by senior quarterback Anthony Young-Wiseman, drove down the field with ease with less than a minute left, and the outcome looked bleak for the Blazers. Young-Wiseman dropped back to pass with 50 seconds left, and threw a high pass over the middle. It slipped through the fingertips of the Vikings' receiver and into the waiting arms of Bolt, who sealed the game with the interception.

"At first, I noticed it was a little too high," Bolt said. "I thought he was gonna still catch it, but I was in the right spot, right position, and it fell right in to my chest. I just caught it and ran it right back."

The Vikings' only points came on a Larry Kline interception return for a touchdown off a Victor Wang pass in the second quarter.

"Our defense didn't give up a point today," Holmes said. "Our defense had a shut out. We had a little slip up on offense, an interception ran back, but our defense just shut 'em down."

Senior lineman David Burnett spoke about the successful guarantee quoted here last week.

"[The team coming through] just shows how much we've improved from last year to this year," Burnett said. "We were so underrated coming into the season, people thought we were going to be a [bad] team again. I don't think we're cocky, we're just real confident. Nobody else believes in us, so we might as well believe in ourselves. I love my team, I love what we're doing right now, but we just have to keep getting better and better."

Burnett also talked about what the team needed to do to reach their goal of a state championship.

"We gotta play harder," he said. "The main thing is we gotta keep our composure. Whitman was playing dirty, I didn't know Whitman was gonna come out here and do this. The main thing is we gotta keep our composure, keep our temper under control, be angry when you need to be angry, and smile when you need to smile."

Blair plays Friday, October 3rd, at Magruder. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 P.M.

Today, the Blazers defeated the Whitman Vikings at home, 13-7. Keith Ayensu scored a 75-yard touchdown to tie the game, and Dayne Bolt took the lead with a one-yard punch in. Bolt sealed the deal with an interception with less than a minute left to stop Whitman's last desperation drive. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

GAITHERSBURG - - The Blair Blazers football team lost for the first time this year, as the Gaithersburg Trojans (ranked eighth in the county by digitalsports.com after the first week of play) defended their home turf, batting away the pesky Blazers' second half comeback attempt. The Blazers trailed 28-0 at the half, but outscored the Trojans 14-0 in the second half to keep the game close.

The Trojans, led by defensive end and future Penn State Nittany Lion Sean Stanley (ranked third among all players in the state by rivals.com), got off to a quick lead in the first half. Quarterback Dominic Toquinto completed a three yard touchdown pass to Stanley to take a 7-0 lead. Stanley would later recover a Blazer fumble and return it 54 yards for a Gaithersburg touchdown. Running back B.J. Marshall had two touchdown runs for the Trojans' other two scores.

"Well, the first half was a real disappointment," senior linebacker and captain Andy Holmes said. "We came out, we played scared, and we didn't play up to our potential. We were just intimidated, we were in a unique position, none of these guys have really been in a position to be a team that's used to winning, and so I think we kind of reverted back to old habits."

Stanley also had eight tackles and blocked an Andrew Gondor punt that led to his touchdown reception.

"We slept on them, we didn't know what to do," Gondor said.

The Blair Blazers lost to the Gaithersburg Trojans today, 28-14. The Blazers were outscored 28-0 in the first half, but came back and had a solid second half to keep the score close. Senior running back Dayne Bolt scored both of the Blazers' touchdowns and led the team in tackles. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - In the "Battle of the Boulevard" yesterday between rival high schools Blair and Northwood, the Blazers eased through with a defiant victory, 41-12.

"We played hard," lineman Dana Williams, Jr. said, "The seniors stepped up, did their jobs, and we came up with the victory."

Senior running back/linebacker Dayne Bolt was once again largely responsible for that victory, playing well on both sides of the ball. Bolt ran for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns on 11 carries, and had 5 tackles, including two sacks, and forced a fumble that was recovered for Blair's second score.

"I could've done better, but the W is all that counts," Bolt said. "We're all happy that we got that W, that's what we wanted. Going into this game, they were talking so much garbage on Facebook, and this is a personal game for everybody. This is more than football, because it's the Battle of the Boulevard also, and they beat us last year."

Bolt took his 6'0", 208 pound frame and punished Northwood defenders, carrying them with him wherever he ran. He describes his running style as "A little bit of [Giants' running back] Brandon Jacobs, mixed in with a little bit of [Chargers' running back] LaDainian [Tomlinson]."

Tonight, the Blair Blazer football team destroyed the Northwood Gladiators in a rivalry game at home, 41-12, to improve to 2-0 on the season. Jonathon Haughton, Dayne Bolt, and Alex Egber each had two touchdowns as the Blazers cruised to victory. A full article will be up tomorrow.

SILVER SPRING - - DAYNE BOLT! DAYNE BOLT! DAYNE BOLT!

Cries for the Blazers' star player echoed throughout Bengal Stadium last night as he put up a monster performance against the Bengals to lead Blair to a 47-14 opening night victory. Bolt, a senior who played quarterback, halfback, fullback and linebacker in the season opener, ran for 127 yards on nine carries with four of the Blazers' seven touchdowns. Bolt also contributed with 6 tackles on defense.

"It was a hard game, but we came out like champs and ended this losing streak," Bolt said. "Obviously, I've got to thank my team and my line, they did a great job."

Bolt also commented on his newfound celebrity status with the fans.

"I'm not gonna pay too much attention to it right now, 'cause we gotta keep it going," he said. "Once we keep it going, then yeah, I can be seen as a celebrity, but right now, it was just a good game."

With a tie game in the first quarter, Blair's defense swung the momentum their way. Blake had a third-and-one near midfield and was driving down the field into Blair territory. Quarterback Colin Keegan handed off the ball to half back Daniel Wilson, who, without a hole up the middle, tried to bounce to the right side for the first down. Blair senior defensive end Neil Corran, however, broke free from his blocker and took down Wilson for a key loss. On the ensuing punt, defensive tackle Charles Camara broke through the line, blocked the punt, and scooped it up for a big gain, setting up Bolt's first touchdown of the game, a three yard run.

Blake had a similar situation on the next drive, near midfield and driving into Blair territory, but this time, it was third-and-seven. Once again, Keegan handed it off to Wilson, who, learning his lesson on his last attempt, tried to go to the left side. Senior defensive end and captain Leo Kenghi got past his blocker easily and tackled Wilson for a 7-yard loss, setting up another punt for the Bengals. Andrew Gondor, who was Blair's kicker, punter, kick returner, punt returner, wide receiver, running back, and safety, set up to return the punt. Gondor retrieved it at Blair's 47-yard line and raced down the left sideline, outrunning all Blake defenders for an easy score.

After Wilson scored a touchdown for Blake and Jonathan "Jamrock" Houghton tackled the holder on a botched snap on the extra point attempt, it was 14-6 Blazers. Blake drove down the field when they got the ball back, ending the drive with an incredible touchdown pass from Keegan to Michael Ogbonna. From the Blair 18-yard line, Keegan dropped back to pass, and threw it over the middle to Ogbonna, who was covered by two Blazers. Ogbonna tapped the ball up with his right hand, and while being hit by both defenders, caught the ball with his left in the end zone. Blake tied up the game with a successful two-point conversion.

After that point, however, Blair's sheer superior athleticism took over. Gondor broke free for a 30 yard run, and Bolt followed up with a 5-yard touchdown run to take the lead for the Blazers. On the next drive, senior quarterback Victor Wang threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kenghi in the corner of the end zone as time expired in the first half, giving the Blazers a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Blair Blazers football team won at Blake against the Bengals, 47-14, to kick off the season. Dayne Bolt ran for 127 yards and 4 TDs, and it was a stellar effort in all three phases of the game. A full article will be posted tomorrow.

Although they may not be as prestigious as Team USA Basketball, Blair Blazer football shares a theme and message with the team that swept through Beijing this summer - redemption.

After a humiliating 0-10 season last year, the Blazers are looking to bounce back to show their fans that they mean business. Experience is on Blair's side, as they return 22 seniors, including 11 starters (4 offensive, 7 defensive). One of those seniors is captain Andy Holmes, who will play strong side outside linebacker and tight end this year for the Blazers.

"I think the biggest thing you can see is a change in attitude," Holmes, Blair's leading tackler last year, said. "I think last year we had a lot of skill but we didn't have the right attitude, and I think that's one of the main reasons we had an 0-10 season. This year we're gonna have a different attitude, we have a lot of seniors coming back this year who, after experiencing last year, just aren't willing to go through that again, and I think are really dedicated to making sure that this team wins no matter the cost."

The wing T offense (run by Head Coach Jeff Seals and Assistant Coach Bryan Nance) and 3-5 defense (run by Assistant Coach Earl Lindsay) that the Blazers will use this upcoming year will utilize their already extraordinary athletic abilities to make the team even more exciting to watch.

Readers,

As fall, winter, and spring approaches, this blog will have a different topic. Of course, with no Thunderbolt season going on, I will not be exclusively covering the Thunderbolts. I will, however, post updates pertaining to the 'Bolts as the year goes on. Now, however, I will be covering sports from Blair High School. For the upcoming fall season, I expect to cover both varsity football and boy's varsity soccer, time permitting. A combined preview article of both sports will hopefully be up in the next two days.

Yours truly,

Pete Volk