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Cougars Have Field Day at State Championships

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blair garrett

Catoctin Cross Country has made huge strides in just a short time.

Since taking over just a season ago, head coach David Lillard has put together an impressive turnaround for a program that had been struggling to get runners on the field.

“Two years ago, we had just three runners,” Lillard said. “Now we have 12, and this team went from not being able to compete at states just two years ago to getting second place this year.”

Coach Lillard had a lot of help from senior star runner, Alex Contreras, who took on the role of captain this season. Contreras plays a huge part in getting the team prepared throughout practices, and his dedication has elevated his runs and his team to a new level this season. 

“Being captain is a lot of responsibility, but I do have fun with it,” Contreras said. “The guys are really good, so it’s not like I have to whip anyone into shape. They’re all out here to get better. It’s a fun job, and it’s been pretty great.”

Contreras’ efforts since joining the team have made a huge impact, and the rewards have paid off in a big way. Contreras placed first at the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) 1A State Championships on November 12, etching his name in the record books among Maryland championship runners.

“Getting first at states was something I’ve really been working toward since my freshman year of high school,” Contreras said. “I started in middle school, but I wasn’t very serious about it until my freshman year.”

The team took second overall, and each runner on the team gets to share the glory for how far Catocin’s cross country program has come.

“They’ve done the one thing I wanted them to do when I came here which was to make it their team,” Lillard said. “They take over the team, they control the team and do what they need to do to be a state contender, and they grabbed that with both hands and just went with it.”

Coach Lillard often finds that the players give themselves all the discipline and feedback they need to keep improving.

“They’re harder on themselves than I am on them,” he said. “I have to tell them it’s OK to be a second or two off in their training. Not every workout is going to be great, but their work ethic is top notch, and sometimes I’ve got to walk them off the ledge and say, ‘Hey, it’s OK not to be great today.’”

That attitude and accountability to get better each day has ignited this team, and the results speak for themselves. Fortunately for the Cougars, they have a leader with experience to lean on when things get tough.

“Alex is the captain, so he takes on a lot of that [leadership],” Lillard said. “A lot of times, the kids will go to Alex with issues, and with him being a senior, he’s gone through a lot of the things our younger runners have gone through.”

The benefits of having a talented leader and a coach who understands what each individual needs are immeasurable. There are a lot of good things to come for the Cougars, and a stand-out cross country season is only the beginning.

Coach David Lillard (far left) is shown with Catoctin’s Cross Country runners at the state competition in November. The team took second place overall. Team Captain Alex Contreras (center) earned a first-place finalist award.

CHS Sports Boosters Courtesy Photo

Catoctin clinches State Championship

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Dominance from Start to Finish

Blair Garrett

Catoctin High Football clinched its second state championship Saturday, December 7, defeating the Poets of Dunbar High School (Baltimore) 31-8 in a Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) 1A matchup.

The Cougars stormed through the playoffs, yielding opponents just 41 points over the team’s five playoff victories while posting a monstrous 213 points on offense.

It was a clash of the best of the best, with both teams flattening semifinal opponents by more than 40 points. An unstoppable force versus an immovable object scenario set a collision course for the 1A State Championship game, with only one possible victor.

The teams’ last matchup against each other came back in Catoctin’s historic 2009 run, where they edged Dunbar 13-12 en route to the team’s first-ever state championship. The parallels to this season were apparent, and the Cougars had the confidence to replicate that result once again.

“The coolest thing about it is there were only three of us [coaches] when we won our first championship,” head coach Doug Williams said. “Getting to be there with my assistant coaches and players who haven’t done that is special.”

With everything on the line, the only thing left to do was execute, and Catoctin did that in a near-flawless manner from start to finish.

As the Cougars took the turf at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, the boys came ready to play, exposing Dunbar mistakes to shock the Poets over the first quarter.

On the first play of the game, Dunbar fumbled to the benefit of Catoctin, laying the groundwork for a theme that would plague the Poets all night long. Turnovers repeatedly cut possessions short for the perennial 1A playoff powerhouse, and the Catoctin defense was ready at every turn to send its offense back onto the field.

“Our defensive coaches had Dunbar very well scouted,” Williams said. “The staff and players all bought into the program, and it made us successful.”

The Cougars had too much firepower to put the ball in their hands with excellent field position, and quarterback Ryan Orr made quick work of the defense in the first half, connecting passes across the middle to put the boys in blue within striking distance. As it has all season, the running game continued to chew up yardage with each play.

Dunbar had successful drives down the field, but a mental mistake led to a red-zone interception for Catoctin, effectively thwarting any momentum for the Poets and preserving the shutout.

A series of mistakes kept the Catoctin offense on the field, but the Cougar defense managed to punish the Poets with a pick-six to continue frustrating the opposing quarterback.

Despite the lopsided turnover ratio, the Dunbar offense had its moments where possessions were threatening. After 24 unanswered points by Catoctin, Dunbar made its first significant impact of the game with a beautiful ball over the middle to Deairus Carr, who slipped between the defense, shook off a tackle, and cruised into the end zone to get his team on the board.

Dunbar’s message was loud and clear, the team needed to stop the bleeding, and shutting down Catoctin’s run game was necessary if the Poets were going to turn the game around. The Cougars’ bread and butter all season was its slashing runs with running back Carson Sickeri, but Dunbar had keyed in and cut his drives repeatedly short throughout the second quarter.

Fortunately for Catoctin, Sickeri did what he does best and found a running lane to break through the Poets’ defense for a huge chunk of yardage. Sickeri’s run eventually set up another ball over the top to Travis Fields, for his second touchdown of the game.

With a 31-8 lead at halftime, the Cougars just needed to play solid defense and maintain long possessions to close out the game and capture the team’s second championship of the decade.

Coach Williams and company continued to pour on the pressure, bottling up Dunbar’s offense and preventing the Poets from stringing together a successful drive.

As Catoctin continued burning the clock, the Gatorade bath watch was on, and the Cougars successfully doused several coaches in the only ice bath a person would ever be excited about.

The final buzzer sounded, the crowd went wild, and players stormed the field in what was undoubtedly the most exciting game of their lives.

Through the biting cold temperatures, the fans stood in unison as their hometown friends and family celebrated a near once-in-a-lifetime achievement.

“The community we live in is amazing,” Williams said. “We were the smallest school of the championship winners, and we were the loudest. That’s awesome.” The 2019 Catoctin football team’s legacy of dominance has been solidified, with the team’s 13-1 season ending with the MPSSAA 1A Championship trophy in hand. A big congrats to the players, coaches, and families that made this season so great. Go Cougars!