No. 15 Rams claim Chesapeake football title behind cousins’ 6 TDs

Deonte Banks helped Edgewood High clinch the UCBAC Chesapeake Division crown Friday. The University of Maryland scored for four touchdowns and rushed for more than 200 yards as the 15th-ranked Rams defeated Havre de Grace, 44-14, at Harris Stadium.

Edgewood High football made history last season. The Rams are showing this season it wasn’t a fluke.

No. 15 Edgewood defeated Havre de Grace, 44-14, in an UCBAC Chesapeake contest in Friday evening at James R. Harris Stadium in Harford County. Deonte Banks rushed for 220 yards and four touchdowns for the Rams, and Antwan Banks ran for two scores and threw for another.

The Rams (8-1 overall, 6-0 Chesapeake) scored the game’s final 25 points, clinching their first division crown since 2013 (won Susquehanna). It’s their first Chesapeake Division title since 2005.

Last fall, Edgewood won its first state postseason match, defeating perennial 3A state power Franklin in the North Region semifinal. The Rams lost to eventual state finalist Milford Mill Academy in the North final.

Edgewood has carried the momentum into 2018, thanks to cousins Deonte and Antwan Banks. Deonte, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound athlete who committed to the University of Maryland during the summer, scored on runs of 59, 5, 4 and 25 yards, the latter three helping the Rams pull away.

Antwan (5-10, 170 pounds) tossed a 59-yard touchdown pass to Monzell Ware to open the second half. Antwan, who broke off scoring runs of 61 and 59 yards in the first half, left the game early in the second half after rushing for more than 200 yards.

Havre de Grace (7-2, 4-2 Chesapeake), which won the Chesapeake title last season, got a 21-yard touchdown run from Brandon Rabbitt and nine-yard pick-six from senior Alex Gresock. The Warriors, who lost to eventual state champ Dunbar in the 1A state semifinals last year after back-to-back trips to the state final (lost both times to western Maryland’s Fort Hill) is firmly entrenched in the top spot for the upcoming East Region playoffs.

Edgewood, which last made back-to-back postseason trips in 1988 and 1989, is guaranteed a return trip to the 3A North playoffs with Friday’s victory. The 3A North should be one of the toughest with Edgewood, No. 6 Milford Mill, No. 12 Franklin and 19th-ranked Dundalk.

Edgewood, which only loss this season came against reigning state 3A champ Frederick County’s Linganore, completes regular season play at home against Fallston this Friday.