By Ben Spector
HOWARD- Coming into the regional final round of the 2015 Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association 4A Football Tournament the Sherwood High School Warriors and the Howard High School Lions, were virtually inseparable.
They both were coming of undefeated seasons on the field, although it wouldn’t appear that way for the Warriors who were officially 10-1 after having to forfeit the first game of the season due to an ineligible player. They were one spot off of each other in the Maryland State Football Poll with the Warriors holding the #15 spot in the state with the Lions close behind at #16 but the Lions held the slight edge in the Baltimore Sun poll at #11 with the Warriors at #12.
The difference between the two teams wasn’t apparent at first but after an unfortunate injury and some solid offensive work from the Lions, they would prevail over the Warriors by a final score of 34-14 in Ellicott City on Friday night,
The game had been hyped heavily across pretty much all media outlets because of not only the quality of the teams but especially because of Sherwood senior wide receiver Marcus Simms and his discernible skill at wide receiver with Sherwood head coach Chris Grier describing him as the “best football player in the state.”
This left Howard senior running back under the radar for once as during the regular season he had been the toast of Howard County, breaking the school record for most all-purpose yards in a career. Anderson played into that roll perfectly though as he would rush for 61 yards and pick up 120 yards and 2 more touchdowns over the air.
Flying under the radar hasn’t been a normality for Anderson but Howard Head Coach Bruce Strunk didn’t seem to think it made an effect on the 5-foot-6 running back.
“He plays hard no matter what, so I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” said Strunk who sees his Lions go up to 12-0 as they head into a home state semifinal matchup against the Broadneck High School Bruins. “Marcus (Simms) and Travis (Levy) are a hell of a players so they deserve all the hype they get.”
While, Anderson did start out slow for the Lions rushing for just seven yards in the first quarter, the game around him sprung into life on the very first play from scrimmage.
Howard senior quarterback Casey Crawford would drop back and hit Lions senior wide receiver Cameron Carlyle who had beaten his mark and had plenty of open space around him for a 66 yard touchdown pass off of the opening gun.
After punting once, Sherwood would get the ball back and attempt to tie the score going to the man who has done the most for them this year in Marcus Simms. Unfortunately, Simms, after making a 47 yard reception would get hit and hurt on the way down, ending his night and his Sherwood career in one of the toughest endings to one of the best careers in Sherwood football history.
Even, after not playing three and a half quarters of football Simms was still the leading receiver for the Warriors who accumulated 158 receiving yards on the night six different players.
“We have some other guys who could do some stuff,” said Grier who will look to next year as running back Travis Levy enters his senior season. “At the end of the day, hats off to Howard. We kind of got to the bottom of the playbook. I wish we could of played them healthy.”
Still, after Simms injury the Warriors would score twice as senior quarterback Shawn Bliss would throw two touchdown passes to give the Warriors a 14-6 lead.
Bliss would slow up in the second half, as missing his big play target in Simms, left the Warriors searching for answers. Meanwhile, Anderson was getting ready to take the main stage.
During the second quarter Anderson would catch touchdown passes from Crawford of 50 yards and of 31 yards, book-ended by a solo rushing effort from two yards out, giving the Lions a 21 unanswered points and a lead they would not look back from.
The Lions would add another touchdown pass in the fourth to cap the win and to guarantee that they’ll live to play another day.
“Malik is a hell of a football player, whether he’s running or catching or blocking, he’s always 100 miles per hour,” said Strunk just minutes after wrapping up the Lions first back-to-back regional championships since 1972-1975. “He’s just tough as nails.”
Anderson’s jersey torn and tattered was a testament to that statement from his head coach.
Photo taken by Nathan Getz.
