At 7-1, Bruins Tuning Up For Another Playoff Run

The Broadneck football team’s October 2024 looked a lot like their October 2023: a surprise loss surrounded by dominant wins.

If November 2024 plays out like November 2023, where they made a run to the 4A state championship game, that’ll be just fine by the Bruins.

Broadneck played their second “county game of the year” contender of the season, a 27-26 loss to Annapolis on October 18 in which they were held by a late Panthers defensive stand. They sandwiched that loss, though, with three dominant performances: winning 49-7 over Severna Park on October 4, then avenging last season’s county loss to Old Mill 38-10. They wrapped it up with a 43-0 win on senior night over North County.

The Severna Park result stretched Broadneck’s dominance over Severna Park to 13 years – the Falcons haven’t won this matchup since 2011. But that doesn’t make the game any less meaningful.

“The kids get up for Severna Park. They play a lot of lacrosse and baseball with a lot of those guys, so it’s a good game, still a fun game,” said Broadneck coach Rob Harris. “We just want them to stay focused and realize that each day you need to get better, each game you need to get better, and I think they did a good job of that.”

Nobody had more than 50 yards receiving for the Bruins, and seven players caught at least one pass. Joey Smargissi had the most targets, hauling in four catches for 44 yards and one of the Bruins’ seven touchdowns.

Six Broadneck players found the end zone: Smargissi, Ian Mauldin, Aaron Foote, Mari Hayes, Carson Pierce and Cordaro Foote.

“We love competition, and everything was clicking,” Smargissi said. “Everyone was clicking. Slots, outside receivers, Ian, C.J. … great job by all the guys.”

The Old Mill rematch, long circled on Broadneck’s calendar, didn’t have near the drama of the 2023 game won 31-28 by Old Mill. The Bruins had perfect balance in their offense: 239 rushing yards, 239 passing yards. Of those 478 yards, Mauldin had 193 and three more touchdowns, giving him 14 on the season.

“We really wanted this game because of how they beat us last time,” said Mauldin, who had 125 of his 166 rushing yards after halftime to make up for lost time after being injured against Old Mill last season. “It was fun. A lot of hard, physical runs. We knew we would eventually break them if we kept running at them, because they were starting to get tired.”

Broadneck’s rushing yardage came on 41 carries, nearly six yards per rush. Watkins’ passing yards came on 29 attempts, more than 10 yards per attempt and almost 15 yards per completion. Between rushing and passing, Hayes had 99 yards and a touchdown on six touches, and Aaron Foote added 60 yards and a score on seven touches. Smargissi and Pierce combined for 103 receiving yards on nine catches.

“I keep saying we have five elite skill players, and great players behind them too,” Harris said. “C.J. does a great job of distributing the ball and making sure everyone gets involved. When we can distribute the ball, we really like our chances.”

The Broadneck defense was just as dominant. Old Mill had a total of 286 yards — 143 rushing, 143 passing — but more than half of that came on two plays: a 99-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter and a 49-yard run in the fourth.

The defensive effort came from expected and unexpected contributors. The defensive line and linebackers were solid, and when safety and secondary leader Blake Levicki went down with a leg injury, two plays later, his replacement Kobe Owen intercepted a pass and sent the Bruins off on another long drive.

“That’s this team,” Harris said. “A guy goes down, and everyone is ready for their number to be called and go make a play, even if they don’t always get the attention. Kobe’s one of those guys who’s really important to us, and he was ready to make a big play.”

Since the beginning of the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season, Broadneck is 32-2 against AACPS opposition and 34-3 against county opposition overall (1-1 against Archbishop Spalding, 1-0 against St. Mary’s).

Beating Old Mill was important, but it wasn’t the only thing on the Bruins’ mind that night.

Broadneck’s game against Old Mill was a “green-out” in honor of 10-year-old Riley Whitney, in the middle of his second battle with neuroblastoma, and his family. In honor of Whitney’s favorite color, some players wore green undershirts or green gloves, and a few had their ankles taped with green wrap.

Broadneck closes the season at Severn Run on November 1, then waits to learn their first opponent for the playoffs, which partly depends on the Annapolis-Arundel result the same night. With an Annapolis win, the Bruins would host a first-round game on November 8. With an Arundel win and a Broadneck win, the Bruins would likely receive a bye directly into the second round.