The state high school football postseason begins in four weeks, but for New Town High, it started Saturday afternoon. The Titans posted a 7-0 victory over Dundalk in a Baltimore County 1A/2A league contest in Owings Mills.
Shawheem Dowdy’s 28-yard touchdown throw to James Williamson in the opening quarter was all the Titans (3-4 overall, 1-3 1A/2A) needed. The victory should help New Town improved on its 7th place standing in the Class 1A North Region picture. The top four teams advance to the state tournament.
“We don’t need any help, our fate is in our hands,” said Titans coach Joe Holland. “Everyone that’s ahead of us have to play each other down the stretch. If we win and do what we supposed to do, we should get into the playoffs.
Luckily, we kept the cause moving because we put in a hard of week of practice. We put in some different things defensively and offensively, and the kids responded.”
It wasn’t until New Town swarmed Dundalk quarterback Garrett Hadel near midfield on the final play of regulation that the Titans could breathe a sigh of relief. The Titans denied Dundalk (5-2, 3-1 1A/2A) on two trips deep in their terrority in the second half.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with them [Dundalk] being 5-1,” New Town linebacker Dion Roche. “All week we watched film and prepared. Today, we executed.”
New Town took advantage of a muffed punt snap by Dundalk to get the game’s opening score. On fourth down, Williamson got behind a Dundalk defender to haul in Dowdy’s pass.
“Last week I had a ball like that and dropped it so I had to redeem myself,” said Williamson, whose team lost in overtime to Owings Mills last weekend. “It was a good pass by Shaweem. I’m a senior so I don’t want my season to be over.”
New Town’s defense stopped the Owls on fourth down at the Titans’ 28 on the opening drive of the second half. Dundalk recovered a New Town fumble and got to the Titans’ 24 before being turned away.
The Owls received a break when New Town missed a 22-yard field goal attempt, but fumbled the ball back on the ensuing play. Dundalk managed 100 yards of offense Saturday as it fell out of a first-place tie with Western Tech in the 2A/3A.
“They just outplayed us, plain and simple,” said Townes, whose team is tied for second with Owings Mills and Sparrows Point. “We were riding a little high on our horse and this brought us back to reality.”
The Owls also slipped out of second place in the Class 2A North Region standings. They’ll look to rebound against Sparrows Point Friday at CCBC-Dundalk.
New Town takes on Pikesville Friday. Pikesville is currently fourth in the 1A North Region standings.
“We’re going to have come out practice, execute, be disciplined and show it on the field,” said Dowdy. “If we lack discipline in practice, we’ll lack discipline on the field. We’re not having that.”
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