The Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers entered the MIAA B Conference football championships looking for their third title in as many years.
The Cavs came up short in a 26-20 loss to the St. Mary’s High School, Annapolis, Saints on Nov. 16 at Towson University, but the Spalding football team, stronger than ever, continues on and Head Coach Mike Whittles, just finishing up his ninth season, is proud of his 2007 team and anxiously looks forward to next season.
“Coming into this season, our seniors had never lost a game,” said Whittles. “We had some question marks early on since we were returning only four starters on offensive and four on defense.”
The Cavs’ goal was simple – to improve each week and that’s exactly what they did according to the coaching staff.
The Cavaliers shared an identical 7-1 regular-season record with the Saints, with their only conference loss to St. Paul’s in overtime. But the Cavs kept their heads high and pushed on, taking a must-win from the Saints 21-19 in late October.
“We match up well with the Saints. They have their strengths and we have ours. I think if we played St. Mary’s 10 times, we would each win five times,” said Whittles.
The Cavs’ senior leadership of Kevin Moran at quarterback and Evan Hockel at running back gave the Severn school a solid foundation – Moran with his cool approach to pressure and Hockel’s quickness, scoring more than 16 touchdowns during the season.
Reflecting on the championship game, after scoring a healthy 20 first-half points and racking up more total yardage, Coach Whittles said, “I feel like we won the battle but lost the war.”