THE GAZETTE
Page B-2
Georgetown Prep senior adjusts to lost season Following summer knee injury, senior eager to pursue college football
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BY
DAN FELDMAN STAFF WRITER
Georgetown Prep senior tight end Andrew Caskin, at the third of about 20 camps he planned to attend last summer in search of scholarship offer, beat linebacker after linebacker in a passing drill. Keith Willis, a former Virginia Tech tight end who is now Georgetown Prep’s tight ends coach and director of strength and conditioning, watched excitedly. Willis had accompanied Caskin on a bus tour of camps, and he believed Caskin was on the verge of reaching a new level. Finally, coaches at the Nike Football Training Camp in Columbus, Ohio, called for a linebacker committed to Notre Dame and another committed to Ohio State. Caskin beat both. “What you did today was special,” Willis told Caskin. A few days later, Caskin would be back in Ohio, dirty and
cooped in a hotel room. While competing at a West Virginia camp, Caskin felt his knee pop. He continued with the bus tour to another camp in Columbus, but he couldn’t even shower, let alone compete. Eventually, Caskin called his dad to pick him up. They drove eight hours home, and Caskin had an MRI revealing a torn anterior cruciate ligament. “I was physically sick to my stomach,” Willis said. “My heart felt for him. “I’ve never seen coaches cry before when a kid gets hurt. He meant so much to the program, coaches shed tears when this kid got hurt.” Said Caskin: “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life. I’ve never really gone through an injury, and just to have this major of an injury [and] have so many expectations for my senior year go down the drain, it’s been really hard.” Caskin still hopes to play college football. He earned a scholarship offer from Bryant during a summer camp, and that’s still available. Yale, Brown and Vil-
lanova are also showing interest. Before his injury, Maryland and Virginia Tech expressed interest, and now, becoming a preferred walk-on at Maryland could become a possibility. Caskin, a team captain, is at least still making an impact at Georgetown Prep. Willis described him as an assistant tight ends coach and “my second set of eyes.” Perhaps, Caskin — the school’s student-body president (“President of the Yard”) — is most valuable now for his ability to connect with his teammates. At a recent walkthrough, Caskin was watching the scoutteam defense. “I said, ‘Andrew, our focus isn’t where it needs to be,’” Georgetown Prep coach Dan Paro said. “And at that point, Andrew stepped in, and he saw that the guys reacted. “I laugh at him sometimes. I say, ‘You thought I was only going to yell at you when you’re in equipment? That’s not the case. I’m going to yell at you when you’re out of equipment, too.’” Everyone believes Caskin, who’s just starting to run, will be
back in equipment soon enough Paro recalled Caskin’s sophomore year, when he was a 6-foot2, 185-pound scout-team middle linebacker challenging linemen Michael Boland (6-foot-7, 300 pounds) and Jerry Ugokwe (6foot-8, 330 pounds). “You knew you had someone special, because I’ll tell you, he wasn’t afraid of those guys,” Paro said. Caskin kept that mentality as he became a two-way starter. “He’ll go full go on a play. He’ll knock the tar out of someone. He’ll take 30 seconds to get up off the ground,” Paro said. “You’re like, ‘Oh my God, what happened to Andrew?’ And then, the very next play, he’s 100 percent. He goes non-stop.” Caskin has thought about that attitude since his injury, realizing how he approached football all along provides him exactly what he needs now. “You kind of have to have that chip on your shoulder and be pissed off and just kind of prove yourself, because once you get comfortable, you’re done,” Caskin said.
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KEEPING IT BRIEF GC, Prep fall short in soccer playoffs In the Interstate Athletic Conference boys’ soccer championship, the Georgetown Prep Hoyas saw their successful 2013 season come to an end in a 4-1 loss against St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes in Alexandria, Va. It was the Hoyas’ third loss to the Saints this season as Georgetown Prep finished the year with an 11-4-1 record. In the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoffs, Our Lady of Good Counsel’s boys’ soccer team reached the semifinals before bowing out to eventual WCAC champion DeMatha Catholic. The Falcons lost to the Stags, 2-0, after downing St. John College High School in the quarterfinals, 5-0. Under coach Dylan Dempsey, in his second year, Good Counsel finished with a 10-5-2 record.
Good Counsel defends WCAC title Good Counsel sophomore Nia Dorsey’s goal in the 25th minute of Saturday’s WCAC
final was all the Falcons needed in a 1-0 win over rival Bishop O’Connell for their second straight championship and third in four years. The meeting marked the 10th time Good Counsel and O’Connell played for the WCAC title. The win evened the headto-head at five games apiece but the Falcons have won the last two.
Holton-Arms wins ISL soccer The Holton-Arms School girls’ soccer team won the season-ending Independent School League “A” Division championship with a 2-1 win over crosstown rival Stone Ridge of School of the Sacred Heart Sunday. Panthers goals were scored by Megan Saunders and Katie Taylor. Saunders also assisted on Taylor’s goal.
Wootton QB throws for 541 yards in a game Thomas S. Wootton quarterback Sam Ellis threw for 541 yards — which would set a Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association single-game record if verified — in a 58-40 win over Rockville on Friday. Ellis completed 22-of-36 passes with six touchdowns and one interception. Rockville’s Chuck Reese threw for 480 yards in a win over Col. Zadok Magruder earlier this season, but that was also under review by the state.
Holy Cross wins second WCAC title Rhamat Alhassan has been playing volleyball for only three years, but when she graduates from the Academy of the Holy Cross this spring, she’ll have a pair of WCAC titles in tow. On Friday, a day after sweeping Good Counsel in the semifinals, Alhassan recorded a career-high 26 kills in leading the Tartans to a 3-1 win over Paul VI in a rematch of last year’s title match, which was Holy Cross’ first championship in program history. “I think I did pretty good,” said a laughing Alhassan, who finished her final high school season with 289 kills, 154 more than her next closest teammate. “I guess it was just me really wanting to win.”
Good Counsel tennis wins two medals Junior Stephanie Grodecki’s runner-up finish in the No. 1 singles slot and gold medal with freshman Megan Keller in the No. 1 doubles bracket helped the Good Counsel girls’ tennis team to a third-place finish at the season-ending WCAC championship Monday. It was a drastic improvement from last year’s seventhplace performance. Every point in such a tournament format counts, and coach Lee Ingham said in an email that she was extremely pleased with her charges’ record in the first round. The Falcons were victorious in six of nine opening round matches, the most in recent history. The Falcons should only be stronger next year with a good portion of its top six slated to return.
Wootton doubles players win region titles Wootton seniors Aishu Iyer and Katarina Sherman won the girls’ doubles region tennis title over Churchill’s Hayley Keats and Sriya Movva. After regular season and county final losses to Wootton’s Miranda Deng, Whitman senior No. 1 singles player Kamilla Beisenova defeated the freshman star in straight sets to win last Wednesday’s all-Montgomery County Region II girls’ singles title. Maryland public high school tennis is divided into eight regions. The top two finishers in each bracket — boys’ and girls’ singles, boys’ and girls’ doubles and mixed doubles — earn a spot in the state championship played each May at the University of Maryland, College Park. Last Wednesday’s region finals featured the girls’ singles and doubles; boys and mixed doubles regionals will be played following the boys’ spring season.
— COMPILED BY GAZETTE STAFF