With Everyone Contributing, Broadneck Football Surges Toward Playoffs

Broadneck’s football team is known for creative, high-flying offense. Defense has become more of a calling card in recent years down the stretch.

Against Old Mill on October 17, special teams entered the chat.

An 85-yard touchdown return from Max Fresty on the second-half kickoff gave the Bruins precious breathing space along the way to a 16-10 statement victory over Old Mill, winning a defensive slugfest against one of the better units in the state.

Fresty hadn’t been the deep return man on kickoffs in a while, but he nearly broke for a touchdown twice against Arundel. With the Old Mill kickoff team eschewing angled kicks in favor of return coverage, Fresty was finally able to pop one and give the Bruins needed momentum.

“When I got the ball, I saw an alley, and it just opened up. I got my blocks, took the cut, and that was it,” Fresty said. “It gives us a really big confidence boost. Old Mill is a great team, and we were able to rally together.”

That made the game 13-3 after Cordaro Foote had scored a 2-yard run in the first half. Then, with the offense sputtering from both Old Mill’s stout defense and self-inflicted negative plays, the Bruins defense rose up.

They forced the Patriots to largely abandon the run and take to the air, which was music to the ears of a quality secondary and pass rush. Broadneck had four sacks, two from two-way standout Aaron Foote, and multiple big plays from Alijah Hawkins to stop Old Mill in their tracks.

The performance was a far cry from a month ago against Arundel, Broadneck’s last loss where they scored 48 points and piled up nearly 500 yards of offense and still lost. But with the playoffs in view, the team is turning up a defense that has proved vital to their postseason runs of the last few years.

“We aren’t backing down from anybody, and we’re starting to play playoff football,” Hawkins said. “Practice, tackling circuit, and all the tackling drills we do, we’ve been back in it and missing far less tackles.”

With shutouts over Annapolis (35-0) and North County (49-0) sandwiching a 30-13 win over Glen Burnie, the Bruins got back to .500 ahead of Old Mill. After the statement win against Old Mill, they moved to 5-3 by rolling past Meade 42-7.

That leaves one more regular-season game, October 30, and perhaps the most enticing Broadneck-Severna Park game in years. Broadneck needs the game to vie for the No. 1 seed in the region, an improved statewide seeding should they reach the playoffs, and valuable momentum heading to the playoffs.

What’s been the most impressive thing about this run is that it hasn’t come from just one player, but many, with the contributors changing week to week.

“I’m excited because multiple people are stepping up, and that’s what you need. Last year we were dependent on one or two guys, but this year when hopefully we have everyone back, it’ll be good,” said Broadneck coach Rob Harris. “We just need to stay consistent, listen to the coaches … we are peaking. We’re getting there, and I’m excited to see what we do.”