Football

DC Touchdown Club HS Players of the Week

By DCSportsFan.com

Posted on September 12, 2024

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Throughout the preseason and leading up to the season opener, there were more than a few occasions where Westlake High first-year football coach DaLawn Parrish was sure to chirp on the whistle as soon as running back Devin Cox burst through the line of scrimmage.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that Cox wanted to run every play to its completion. But there were only 10 minutes in each practice period and the goal was to get in as many repetitions as possible, not watch Cox speed off into the distance then have to return to the backfield.

“He doesn’t do it maliciously, but he wants to finish every run,” said Parrish, who led Wise High to six Maryland 4A titles before moving to Westlake this past offseason. “My man will try to take it to the house every play. But let’s get back in the huddle and get another play in.”

There were no such concerns this past Friday. Cox rushed 29 times for 282 yards and four touchdowns and returned a kickoff 89 yards for another score as the Wolverines opened their season with a 48-33 victory over Northern. For his efforts, Cox was named the Military Bowl DC Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week.

“He just turns into a different person on the field,” Parrish said. “It’s exciting talking about him. He’s an outstanding young man, a leader.”

Upon accepting the job at Westlake, Parrish said he began watching videos of the Wolverines’ games last season. The team went 6-6 and Cox would occasionally deliver standout plays.

“Every game, he would have a run that you were like, ‘Whoa!’ but you wondered why he did not get the ball 20 times. Why didn’t they feed him the ball?” Parrish said. “He wants to win. He texts and calls, always asking me my opinion of something. I want this team to be successful because of young men like him.”

This week’s DC Touchdown Club Player of the Week High School Football Player of the Week Honor Roll:

ANNE ARUNDEL
Annapolis RB Tyler Womack rushed for 217 yards and six touchdowns as the Panthers beat Old Mill for the first time in more than 20 years, 40-20.

DC
KIPP Legacy CB Berry Johnson intercepted three passes, returning one 52 yards for a touchdown, and broke up another pass as the Bulldogs beat Jefferson, 38-2.

FREDERICK
Brunswick QB Ethan Houck, a Liberty recruit, completed 12 of 18 passes for 180 yards and three touchdown and rushed 12 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns and a two-point conversion as the Railroaders beat Rock Ridge, 56-28.

HOWARD
Oakland Mills DL Ayo Adeniyi made six tackles with two sacks, forced two fumbles, blocked a punt and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown and returned a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown as the Scorpions beat Reservoir, 33-0.

LOUDOUN
Loudoun Valley QB-WR Mack Gaffney completed 9 of 12 passes for 159 yards, rushed 12 times for 117 yards and one touchdown and caught four passes for 90 yards and another score as the Vikings beat Musselman, 35-21.

MONTGOMERY
Damascus RB-LB Michael Cooley rushed 17 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns, including a 99-yarder on his first carry of the season, and on defense made nine tackles with one sack and one tackle for loss as the Hornets beat Einstein, 14-0.

NORTHERN REGION
Madison WR-RB Dominic Knicely rushed 15 times for 78 yards and one touchdown, caught five passes for 92 yards and another touchdown and had an 80-yard kickoff return as the Warhawks beat Lake Braddock, 36-15.

PRINCE GEORGE’S
Laurel QB Demerius Custis completed 16 of 26 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 82 yards and three touchdowns as the Spartans beat Surrattsville, 46-28.

PRINCE WILLIAM
Colgan RB-LB LJ Richards rushed 21 times for 149 yards and one touchdown and on defense made nine tackles with three sacks, three tackles for loss and one forced fumble as the Sharks beat Osbourn, 24-7.

PRIVATE
St. Albans WR-S Zahir Cobb caught 10 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns and on defense made six tackles and recovered a fumble as the Bulldogs beat O’Connell, 44-34.

WCAC
Bishop Ireton LB Matthew Worth made 13 tackles with one sack and intercepted two passes as the Cardinals beat Mount Carmel, 27-23.

This week’s DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Football Player of the Week College Honor Roll:

• Liberty DE T.J. Bush (Freedom-Woodbridge) made eight tackles with two sacks and broke up a pass as the Flames beat New Mexico State, 30-24.
• Lafayette RB Jamar Curtis (St. John’s) rushed 21 times for 87 yards and three touchdowns and caught six passes for 56 yards as the Leopards rallied to beat Monmouth, 40-35.
• Indiana RB Justice Ellison (Flint Hill) rushed nine times for 117 yards and two touchdowns as the Hoosiers beat Western Illinois, 77-3.
• Maryland WR Tai Felton (Stone Bridge) caught 11 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown as the Terrapins lost to Michigan State, 27-24.
• Howard RB Ja’Shawn Scroggins completed 11 of 22 passes for 164 yards and one touchdown and rushed 13 times for 122 yards and directed the game-winning drive in the final minute as the Bison beat Mercyhurst, 32-31.
• Oklahoma State S Trey Rucker (Flint Hill) made 17 tackles as the Cowboys beat Arkansas, 39-31 in overtime.
• James Madison S Jacob Thomas (Stone Bridge) made five tackles and intercepted a pass as the Dukes held Gardner-Webb without a touchdown in a 13-6 victory.
• Georgia State QB Christian Veilleux (Bullis) completed 26 of 38 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers beat Chattanooga, 24-21.

And on the pro level, New England Patriots linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, who starred at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville and was the 2023 DC Touchdown Club Pro Football Player of the Year, has been named the DC Touchdown Club Pro Football Player of the Week after leading the Patriots to a season-opening, 16-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday.

Bentley, who has led New England in tackles each of the past three seasons (with more than 100 tackles each season), posted a team-high 12 tackles and had half a sack as the Patriots held the Bengals to just one touchdown and 224 yards of total offense.

“It felt great,” said Bentley, who also was the Touchdown Club Maryland High School Player of the Year as a high school senior. “Just watching all that hard work and what we put in throughout the week and throughout the offseason and reaping the benefits.

“Staying true to what we’ve been coached throughout the week. Obviously, Cincinnati has a dynamic group of players all across the board. Nobody even talks about their offensive line. Everybody talks about their skill players but they have a dynamic offensive line. We came into the game and we had our rules that we wanted to get done, certain looks we wanted to show them. We wanted to make it hard on them.”