By Jon Buzby
MaxPreps.com
It didn’t take long for newly-hired Towson University football coach Rob Ambrose to land two of Maryland’s finest high school linemen.
Baltimore Poly standouts Arnold Farmer and Charles Johnson visited the Towson campus on Wednesday and were so impressed with Ambrose and his program that they both verbally committed before the end of the day – Johnson before he left the campus and Farmer later that evening.
In his prior role as the recruiting coordinator for the Maryland region for the University of Connecticut football team, Ambrose was already familiar with both players.
Farmer is a 6-foot-1, 320-pound defensive tackle who also received offers from Bucknell, Fordham and Navy.
“[Ambrose] said that he wanted to get local guys in,” Farmer told the Baltimore Sun. “Coming from Poly, that's right in [Towson’s] backyard and they found me. I’m really excited about what I can do at Towson. There’s going to be some big things coming out of Towson in the next couple of years.”
Johnson, a 6-2, 262-pound two-way lineman, was also weighing offers from Albany, Bucknell, Johns Hopkins and Lehigh.
“It was the opportunity of a lifetime to get a full scholarship to a [Division I Football Championship Subdivision] school, so I just had to go for it,” Johnson told the Baltimore Sun.
Ambrose can not officially comment until both players sign official letters of intent during the February signing period.
Other football verbal commitments
Several Maryland high school football players have made verbal commitments to play football in college next year. The players can sign beginning Feb. 4 and include;
Courtney Bridget, Dunbar – UNLV
Michael Campanaro, River Hill – Wake Forest
Raymond Cotton, Meade – Auburn
Leron Eaddy, River Hill – Central Michigan
Arnold Farmer, Poly – Towson
Carl Fleming, Franklin – Pittsburgh
Eric Franklin, Archbishop Curley – Maryland
Terence Garvin, Loyola – West Virginia
Beau Haworth, Archbishop Spalding – Navy
Charles Johnson, Poly – Towson
Leon Kinnard, Loyola – Connecticut
Alec Lemon, Arundel – Syracuse
David Mackall, Edmondson – Maryland
Horace Miller, Dunbar – UNLV
Joe Petrides, Archbishop Curley – Akron
Malek Redd, River Hill – Central Michigan
Dave Stinebaugh, Perry Hall – Maryland
Blake Thompson, Cardinal Gibbons – Elon
Tim Willman, Reservoir – Connecticut
Boys Basketball: Atholton wins out-of-state tournament
The Atholton boys basketball team crossed state lines over winter break to compete in the Morgantown Holiday Tournament, held in Morgantown, W.Va.
The out-of-state trip proved to be more than just a fun mid-season learning experience for the boys when they arrived back home carrying the tournament championship trophy.
Their two wins in Morgantown upped their record to 8-0, keeping them atop the conference as the only undefeated public high school boys team in Howard County.
"We try not to worry about the undefeated thing. It's really nice, don't get me wrong, but it's a long season and keeping everything in perspective is important," Atholton coach Jim Albert told the Howard County Times. "It's still very early."
Junior Matt Robinson had 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and four steals in the tournament final, a 59-54 win over host Morgantown High School.
Arthur Hairston (12 points), Conner Cortes (11) and K.J. Settle (11) also contributed to the win. Atholton’s victory handed previously-undefeated Morgantown its first loss of the season.
Girls Basketball: Fritz reaches 1,000 points
Candice Fritz, a senior at North East High School (Cecil County), became the fourth girls basketball player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone on Tuesday night when the Indians cruised to a 67-16 landslide win at Bohemia Manor in an Upper Chesapeake Bay Conference clash.
"It shows the epitome of what hard work can do,” North East coach Alan Foskey told the Cecil Whig. “She’s been given a God-given affinity for the game, but she has a desire that’s just unequaled. She’s got such a passion for the game.
“I’ve had her three of the four years, and everything you ask her to do she does. She never complains. She’s just a great kid and a great basketball player. It means a lot to me, but I have nothing to do with it.”
Fritz was honored in a ceremony prior to the Indians’ home game against Harford Tech – a 41-40 loss – on Thursday night. She was presented the game ball while being joined at halfcourt by her family, Mary Abrams Michaels (the last North East player to reach the milestone), and Cecil College men’s basketball coach Bill Lewitt, who Fritz credits for her development as a player.
North East will take a 5-4 record into Thursday night’s home game against Rising Sun. Bohemia Manor (0-7) will look for its first win when they travel to Elkton on Monday night.
Jon Buzby is the Maryland correspondent for MaxPreps.com.
