Photo courtesy of Winston Churchill Athletics Instagram. The regional football playoffs are well underway in Maryland, and while that opens up the field beyond just Montgomery County, it was two Montgomery County programs that found themselves toe-to-toe with one another in the second round of the 4A bracket. The contest concluded with the Bulldogs ultimately getting the best of the Rockets in a beatdown, 35-17, Friday night. It was Richard Montgomery that got things started, as Gerard Woods Jr. pounded it up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead. And then the Rockets compounded their success. Looking for a complete drive and subsequent response, Churchill quarterback Hunter Humphries telegraphed his throw to the flat. Cornerback Isisah Womack jumped in front of the pass, taking it all the way back for a score and giving the Rockets a 14-0 lead. However, that was about as much success as Richard Montgomery would have on the evening. Humphries was composed on the following drive, with play-action fakes and rollouts that allowed him easy tosses over the middle of the field. But it was running back Noah Zhang that finished the drive strong for the Bulldogs, churning his legs up the middle for a 6-yard score. A Richard Montgomery field goal with less than 10 minutes to play in the second quarter would end up being its final points of the day. Still, Churchill needed to find a way to erase the 10-point deficit. It came rather quickly. The Bulldogs could not have been quicker in responding to the field goal, marching down the field. Humphries then fooled the entire defense, faking a handoff to Zhang and keeping it himself, bumping off defenders for a 15-yard touchdown run. Minutes into the third quarter, it was Zhang who struck again. With Churchill’s fullback leading the way, Zhang went into the end zone nearly untouched, and the Bulldogs finally got their first lead of the evening, 21-17. And unlike Churchill had done over the previous two quarters, the Rockets failed to muster a response. It went the entire third quarter without a significant offensive push, and it wasn’t until the 9-minute mark of the following quarter that a team scored. But that team was Churchill, extending its lead. Humphries immediately diagnosed that his receiver beat man coverage on a streak on the left side of the field, lofting it up into the end zone for an easily caught, 27-yard touchdown. And up 11 with three minutes remaining, it was — who else — Zhang that added insurance to the already-11-point lead, breaking through a gang of tacklers for a 52-yard rushing touchdown. With the win, the Bulldogs now face undefeated powerhouse Quince Orchard.
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