by Reid Duvall ‘27

Varsity football suffered a tough loss to Paint Branch this past Thursday by a score of 21-20. The painfully close defeat was a big contrast from week 1 when the Warriors buried Rockville 46-8. Against Rockville, the team looked dominant on offense and defense, jumping out to a 39-0 lead at halftime.

It was a much different story against Paint Branch where the offense struggled to get going as their first score didn’t come until 4:55 was left in the 3rd quarter. From there it was back and forth as Paint Branch scored to make it 14-6. Then, sophomore QB Matt Larsen found senior receiver Khalil Wilson for a 25-yard touchdown and a converted 2-point attempt put the game at a 14-14 tie with 11:52 left in the 4th. Wilson ran in a touchdown, but a missed extra point left the score at 20-14, with Sherwood leading with 2:45 left in the 4th quarter. Paint Branch quickly answered with a touchdown run of their own to give them a 21-20 lead late in the game and that ended up being the final score. It was a tough loss for the Warriors.

“In week 1 we had a lot of energy and did not beat ourselves,” said Coach Pat Cilento. “Week 2 we made some costly mistakes at inopportune times. We went over the mistakes and made corrections during the film review on Friday.” Cilento emphasized the need for the Warriors to focus on attention to detail, limiting penalties, tackling, and blocking better. The team will look to rebound against local rival Magruder at home on September 19. Magruder is off to a 1-1 start. They lost in week 1 to Springbrook 7-0, and won last week at Watkins Mill 40-6. When the two teams met last year in week 3, the Warriors won dominantly 44-0.