The Warrior•Sports22 October 9, 2009

Alum Van Pelt Gives the Scoopby Danny Golden ‘10

SportsCenter host and TV personality Scott Van Pelt was a member of Sherwood’s class of 1984. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a de-gree in radio/film, Van Pelt had a short stint selling mortgages, but that just was not for him. He got his big break by landing a gig on The Golf Channel before moving over to ESPN in 2001. Recently, Van Pelt gave the commencement speech at Sherwood’s 2006 grad-uation ceremony at DAR Consti-tution Hall in DC.

Q: What sports did you play at Sherwood?

A: I played basketball and base-ball. The shorts were very short...our team was awful. Ask Mr. Laughner, although I am sure he has tried to erase the memory. I also was a pitcher. Our baseball team made it to the state quar-terfinals. I started that game vs. Wheaton on our home field... we lost on a couple of unearned runs. I still think about it 25 years later.

Man, I am OLD.

Q: When you attended Sher-wood, where did you hang out in Olney?

A: We used to go to a place called Pizza Oven where you could get a large for like 3 bucks. It’s long gone. Right next door there was an arcade in a drug store where

you could play a game called Track and Field and Asteroids. Did I mention....I am old? Like dinosaur old. It’s so sad I can’t stand it.

Q: What is your favorite sport to watch? To play? Who are your favorite teams?

A: It’s been forever since I have played pick up hoops...but I still love the game. I enjoy college sports the most- both football and basketball. I don’t think it’s any great secret that I am a Maryland Terrapin. They are by far the team I invest the most in emotionally. Totally irrational but I have been a Terp my entire life.

Q: Which athlete would you like to meet whom you have never met?

A: At this point, I have met most of the big-name athletes. It doesn’t phase me. To be honest, I enjoy meeting regular people more; they tend to have more interesting stories to tell. I have heard it said-treat normal people

like superstars and superstars like normal people. The truth is, they are normal people. So, while I appreciate great athletes for their talents, meeting any one specifi-cally doesn’t interest me as much as it once did.

Q: Describe a typical day in the life of Scott Van Pelt.

A: The one thing that might sur-prise people is the amount of work that goes into what we do. I have a radio show that is also on TV for an hour, and I also host SportsCenter. I am typically here by noon to prepare for the radio show, which begins at two. Af-ter that ends at four, I get ready for my SportsCenter meeting at five. Then I have about an hour to run to the gym here on cam-pus. I then write the show - we do all our own writing - then I do the show and leave around 12:30 AM. Sound glamorous? It’s not. Thirteen-hour days are typical for me. We work at it pretty hard but I am really lucky to do what I love to do every day, so I’m not com-plaining.

Former Students Take the Reinsby Greg Grant ‘10

Kelly Hughes: JV girls soccer (‘04)

Brooke Mayhew: JV girls volleyball (‘04)

Amy Morse: varsity field hockey (‘03)

ClaireLeffler: JV field hockey (‘03)

Nick Hadley: JV football (‘03)

Jason Rose: JV football (‘03)

Brian McCarty: varsity girls volleyball (‘03)

Shaun Davis: varsity baseball (‘00)

Hector Morales: boys’ varsity basketball (‘92)

Pat Cilento: varsity football (‘96)

Susan Otto: varsity girls basketball (‘91)

Sandi Williams: varsity girls basket ball (’85)

Almost every student would agree that sports are a big part of what makes Sherwood unique. Many of the school’s teams and clubs are dominating, and the results of athletic success are readily apparent looking at Sher-wood’s trophy cases. Along with decades of dominance come spe-cial athletes whose passion for Sherwood athletics never gradu-ated. Athletes like Pat Cilento, Jason Rose and Brian McCarty, just to name a few. How do they show they’re still passionate? Those players now coach here. So instead of willing there teams to victory through hustle, grit and talent, these Sherwood alums now run the sidelines. Among the coaches, it was unanimous that being at their alma mater has been a great ex-perience in their life. “I never ex-pected to be back here coaching, but I have loved every minute of it,” says varsity soccer head coach Hector Morales (‘92), who played what he now coaches and was a four-year varsity player. His most memorable moment of his play-ing career was winning the 1988 state championship. Only a fresh-man, Morales entered the game as a substitute. Girls’ varsity volleyball head coach Brian McCarty (’03) is also happy to be back. “It’s a great experience for me to be back coaching at Sherwood,” says Mc-Carty. “I have a lot of awesome memories from playing sports at Sherwood, so it gives me pleasure to give back to the community.” McCarty started at point guard of the varsity basketball team, led

the soccer team in scoring twice and was an All-County coed vol-leyball player. McCarty says the highlights of his playing career were the fun memories, the thrill of competition and pushing him-self to become a better player in all three sports. Many of these current coach-es played for coaches that in-stilled values in them that they use even to this day. Sandi Wil-liams (‘85), a former varsity girls’ basketball player, was heavily af-fected by her high school coach, Warren Crutchfield. “Crutch is the number one reason that I wanted to become a teacher of the game of basketball,” says Wil-liams. “Crutch was like a father to me as well as all the girls that he coached here at Sherwood High School.” In William’s playing ca-reer, she once scored 44 points in a game. She said that the feeling

of being on the court with some of her best friends is what made basketball so fun for her. She now coaches varsity girls’ basketball, and her former mentor, Crutch-field, sits in the assistant coach’s chair. Pat Cilento (’95), varsity football head coach, has had the fortune of having a relationship with two of the legends of Mary-land high school football. He was the quarterback for Coach Bob Milloy and led the team to back-to-back State Champion-ships and was named Maryland High School Player of the Year. He returned a decade later to join the coaching staff of Al Thomas. “When I moved back from Flori-da, I wouldn’t want to coach any-where else,” says Cilento. After coaching the Warriors to their first championship since Cilento was a player, Thomas decided to

“The different gaps were num-bered differently and plays had different names. We also warmed up differently as a team.” Rose was a dominant lineman in his time at Sherwood; he was named to the Washington Post’s All Met-ropolitan Team (first team) as a senior. Rose says his favorite mo-ment as a Warrior was avenging a regular season 13-10 loss in his senior year to Gaithersburg. In front of a packed house in Gaith-ersburg, Rose and the Warriors came up large in a 24-16 playoff victory.

Varsity football coach Pat Cilento talks with junior quarterback A.J. Pignone. Cilento was once in Pignone’s shoes as the quarterback for the Warriors in 1994 and 1995.

retire, which left the door open for Cilento to seize his chance at becoming Stormin’ Warriors’ head coach. He sees some of the differences between when he played compared to now as a coach. “The focus on academics, personal development and col-lege; we want our football team to experience tremendous success on the field and in the classroom. When I was here, there was not much focus on getting into col-lege,” he says. For those coaches who grad-uated only in the last few years, it is not always easy to remember to distinguish the past from the present. “Sometimes I catch my-self calling or saying old plays from when Milloy was here, as opposed to the recent play-calling from Al Thomas and now Pat Ci-lento,” says Jason Rose (’03), JV football’s defensive coordinator.

photo courtesy of www.scarankings.files.wordpress.com

Van Pelt, a 1984 Sherwood graduate, works the camera at his SportsCenter desk for ESPN.

photo by Alyx Henry ‘11

Former Players Turned Coaches

The Warrior•SportsOctober 9, 2009 23

by Abhishek Malik ‘10

Adewole and the Warriors Begin Chase for State Title

Tomi Adewole is a calming presence on the soccer field.photo by Lilly Johnson ‘10

riott’s Ridge on September 12. Amidst these high expecta-tions, the team itself is also deter-mined to succeed more than ever before. “Our team is really work-ing hard to improve. We are put-ting the time in practice to work on improving on our weaknesses to get better for every game,” says Adewole. “During the games, I consider myself a leader in that I give my teammates advice when they make mistakes. I’m not re-ally the sort of guy who’ll moti-vate his team with a big speech.” Numerous colleges are re-cruiting Adewole, including Villanova University, The Uni-versity of Chicago, Drexel Uni-versity, George Mason Univer-sity and Princeton University. Morales can also see Adewole excelling at the next level. “Tomi has potential to be a big time Division I player and could pos-sibly make an immediate impact on the program,” says Morales. The Warriors, however, are not a shoe-in for the playoffs just yet. The boys still have a

challenging schedule, includ-ing a game tomorrow at 12 p.m. at home against rival Magrud-er (2-2-1) and a showdown at tenth-ranked Churchill (0-2) on October nineteenth. The team closes out its season at home against Division 3A opponent Northwood on October 26. “It is too soon to predict [how we will do this season], but I do feel the boys are improving each day this year and hopefully that will carry them deep into the play-offs,” says Morales. “[This sea-son], we are older. We have a large group of players who have been three or four-year starters. The in-tensity is also higher in practice.” So far, it looks like all sys-tems are going for Adewole, and the Warriors are prepared for the difficult season ahead. With their best start in years, the boys hope to carry the mo-mentum into the playoffs. Adewole has even loftier ex-pectations. “We’re going all the way and I’m going to make sure it happens,” he says.

Over the past few years, the Warriors’ boys soccer team had been overshadowed by champi-onship performances from the baseball, basketball and football teams. While the team hasn’t won a state title since it went back to back in 2004 and 2005, the boys did manage to reach the regional semifinals last year, in which they suffered a disappoint-ing 2-1 loss to rival Magruder. This year, the Warriors hope to avenge that loss and go deep into the playoffs en route to win-ning a third championship trophy in the last five years. Thus far, the Warriors are undefeated (8-0), and are currently ranked third overall in the Washington, D.C. metro region by The Washington Post. Perhaps most impressive is that the team has outscored their opponents by a combined score of 13-2. The team is work-ing together cohesively, and it’s showing on the scoreboard. Senior Tomi Adewole is a major reason for the team’s success this season. The 6’2”, 194-pound center back has been a staple of the Warriors’ defense during the four years he has been a starter. Utilizing his strength and height, he excels at stopping the opponent from penetrating the line of defense. He does this by placing himself at the perfect position to clear the ball away with either a boot or a header. When an opponent forces his way past the midfield, he uses his speed and instincts to make a hard but clean slide tackle. “Tomi brings size and strength to our defense, and is a threat on set pieces,” says coach Hector Morales Jr. of Adewole, who made the Washington Post All-Met Second Team last year. Despite the fact that he pri-marily plays defense, Adewole can really impact the game when he ventures up to finish the ball off a corner kick. He can also use his size to pull off some tough headers on free kicks. In fact, he scored two goals in the Warriors’ win over Mar-

Hands off the Panic Button!by Jacob Bogage ‘12

ATTENTION REDSKINS FANS!!!! TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THE PANIC BUTTON!!!! Ok, now that I have your attention, this season is not lost yet. After defeating the dismal Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4) by a score of 16-13, the Washington Redskins (2-2) are now .500 and are close to regaining control of their season. With wins coming against the St. Louis Rams and the Buccs respectively and losses against the New York Giants and the Detroit Lions, respectively, the ‘Skins play the Carolina Panthers (0-3) next week. This will be an interesting game. The ‘Skins have a chance of turning their season around by going over the .500 mark, but they have to play the best winless team in the NFL. Carolina has a high-power offense led by RB Deangelo Williams and other RB Jonathan Stewart. Both are big, strong players that will plow through linemen yet out run a defensive back. The Panthers are coming off a bye week which means not only do they have a chip on their shoulder because they are win-less and not only because they have to defend home turf, but also they had an extra week to work on getting ready for Washington and picking up win number one. Because the Panthers will be very prepared for the Redskins, look for Washington to come out of the gates aggressively and if they win the coin toss, elect to receive the opening kickoff. Jim Zorn should try to establish the run early by running RB Clin-ton Portis off the tackles. If Washington can run successfully on first and second down, they can get into third-and-short situations where QB Jason Campbell can thrive and get into a rhythm. Also, if Zorn elects to throw on first down, look for Campbell to drop back only three steps and get the ball out of his hands quickly and roll out of the pocket often, which will shorten the field and increase his vision. Another idea that former Head Coach Joe Gibbs liked to do was throw screen passes to WR Santana Moss (arguably the fastest player in the league) and then let him run 70 yards for a touchdown. Moss has not seen many screens this season which means defensive backs can give him some room to run and still be able to effectively guard him. If more screens are thrown to Moss it will force the defensive backs to play up on him and allow Moss to run past them for a longer pass route. Another reason to get the ball out of Campbell’s hands quick-ly is because Carolina’s defense in one of the best in the league. DE Julius Peppers is one of the premier pass rushers in the NFL and so is LB Jon Beason; therefore if Campbell can’t get rid of the football quickly he should make himself comfortable on the turf of Bank of America Stadium. The Redskin defense needs to be prepared to bring an extra man into the proverbial “box” in order to stop Williams and Stew-art from running all over the place. Panther QB Jake Delhomme is a gun-slinger when he drops back to pass so the Washington sec-ondary needs to be physical with Carolina receivers Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammad. Not to mention the ‘Skins’ linebackers need to keep their eyes on the ball and not Williams and Stewart so they can be aware of play action and help out the rest of the Washington defense. Additionally, the ‘Skins should take a hint from Coach Pat Cilento—watch a lot of film on the Panthers. Spot their tenden-cies and weaknesses and exploit them. Now, obviously the pro-fessionals in the National Football League study their opponents very diligently, but this week go overkill and do even more. Then maybe, the rest of league will “Hail to the Redskins” once more.

The Warrior•SportsOctober 9, 200924

Undefeated Warriors Face Tough Second Half

Golf Girls TennisBoys soccer

cross country

Girls VolleyBall

Golf

Girls tennis

footBallGirls soccer

field Hockey

by Jacob Bogage ‘12

Sherwood’s defense gets ready at the line of scrimmage in their 25-6 win against Gaithersburg.

After beginning the season undefeated the Sherwood War-riors (5-0) will face a tougher sec-ond half of the season. First half opponents had a combined re-cord of 11-14, while second half opponents, including Churchill (5-0), Quince Orchard (5-0) and Damascus (3-2), have a combined record of 17-8. “Our next five games are going to be tough,” says junior QB A.J. Pignone. “[We play] great teams. We’re playing some tough teams now, but we have to step up the intensity. We know what’s coming and we’re ready. We’re excited for our next several games because we’re going to be tested and we’re going to see who we are.” The Warriors opened up their 2009-10 season like the reigning state champions after a 56-14 vic-tory against the Wootton Patriots. After forcing the Patriots three-and-out on their first possession, the Warriors needed one play to begin the scoring. Junior RB Cyrus Britt took a handoff from Pignone and ran 55 yards for a touchdown. Britt ended the night with 196 yards on six carries for two touchdowns. Britt also took an 80-yard-run for a score later in the first quarter.

“We had good blocking from the line all the way to the full-back,” says Britt. “And by their good blocking we had holes and I had to choose the best one that would let me score. I just got out there and read the holes to make a big play.” The second game against Richard Montgomery followed suit with a dominant 48-0 blow-out of the Rockets. Britt scored three more touchdowns and Pig-none threw for two scores as the Warriors went into cruise control for week two. Week three against the Paint Branch Panthers presented a challenge for the Warriors. After a shaky first half in which three upperclassmen left the game with injuries, the Panthers dominated Sherwood physically, but the young Warriors responded with defense. “Our defense played one heck of a game,” says head coach Pat Cilento. “It’s unfortunate when three or four guys go down. We just tried to not lose the game. We did some things we need to improve on, but we’re very young and we got injured and distract-ed.” Thus began the domination of the Sherwood defense led by senior LB Phillip Durity who fin-ished the game with 15 tackles.

The Warrior defense went on to score 12 of Sherwood’s 19 points and held Paint Branch to a dismal 100 yards of offense and two turn-overs. Not to mention, Sherwood turned the ball over three times inside their own 40-yard line and still kept the Panthers scoreless. Sherwood hosted the rival Magruder Colonels for week four. Magruder held the Warriors to 10 points, yet could not take the win away from the team despite miss-ing their first string running back, among others. Britt returned from an MCL injury suffered in the game at Paint Branch for the homecom-ing matchup versus Gaithersburg. Early in the second quarter he took an inside hand-off from Pi-gnone and jumped the pile from three yards out to score. After be-ing held to almost no yards in the first half, Britt talked to Cilento at half time to discuss a change in strategy. “I talked with Coach Cilento and told him that the defensive backs and the linebackers mo-tioned to the play side and that if we could run a counter, it would kill them. Our opening drive of the second half they weren’t ready for it,” says Britt. “I was just able to make a big play.” And make a big play he did; in the third quarter when Britt

broke free on a counter play to the right side and ran 71 yards un-touched for another touchdown. Britt finished the game with 166 yards and two touchdowns on 20

carries. “We believe in Coach Ci-lento,” says Britt. “We believe he can lead us to a second year with a State Championship.”

recapsrecord3-2-1

next Gamevs. Magruder on 10/10 (5 PM)

key playersF-Ariel Nicholas, D-Erin Mc-Carty, GK-Rachel Lewis

record4-12

next GameDivisional Tournament on 10/10 at Laytonsville GC (3 PM)

key playersAnthony Papio, Chris Costan-tino, Clay Koski

record5-0

next Game@ Blair on 10/9 (6:30 PM)

key playersWR Jamal Merritt, WR Alex Cole, RB Cyrus Britt

resultsBoth the Boys and Girls Teams are 2-2 in Divisional Meets

next meetBoth the Boys and the Girls will travel to New York for the Man-hattan Invitational on 10/10

record2-3

next Gamevs. Walter Johnson on 10/9 (7 PM)

key playersJess Porter, Linda Velasquez, Rejena Carmichael

record2-3

next Gamevs. Paint Branch on 10/9 (6:30 PM)

key playersLeigh Harrison, Robbin Lee, Shayna Popkin

record7-2

next Game@ Seneca Valley on 10/12 (3:30 PM)

key playersKathleen Wortmann, Claire Wortmann

record8-0-0

next Gamevs. Magruder on 10/10 (7 PM)

key playersD-Tomi Adewole, M-Tyler Rudy, D-Henry Bain

-Compiled by Danny Golden Last updated October 5th

photo by Alyx Henry ‘11