MaxPreps.com Staff Report
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. --- After going 10-2 and dropping a heartbreaking game in the state playoffs a year ago, nobody was going to stop Maryland's Friendly High from fulfilling its goal of a 3A state title in 2006.
Not Gwynn Park, one of Friendly's two losses in 2005, not perennial state power Urbana, and not River Hill, who the Patriots ultimately defeated, 37-18, Dec. 9 to cap a 14-0 season complete with a 3A state championship.
Friday, the MaxPreps Tour of Champions, presented by The Army National Guard, made the Fort Washington school its final stop on a 30-school tour of the nation's top football programs in 2006. Friendly finished No. 22 in the final MaxPreps National Rankings.
Ironically, the one player that may have been most responsible for Friendly's success in 2006 could not be on hand to celebrate with his teammates.
Patriot quarterback Joe Haden, already enrolled at the University of Florida, threw for 2,783 yards with 38 touchdowns and ran for 899 yards and 13 scores during the fall, earning MaxPreps All-American honors. The Friendly signal caller finished his high school career with a Maryland public school record 7,371 passing yards and 80 touchdown passes.
Haden (Offensive Player of the Year), wide receiver Vincent Hill (first team), linebacker Rakeem Vick (second team), and defensive back Cornelius Ward (second team) all earned a spot on the Washington Post's prestigious "All-Met" team following the season.
Friendly's last football state title came in 1998. The Patriots were also crowned champs in 1974, 1978, and 1983.