THE GAZETTE
Page B-4
Wednesday, November 20, 2013 s
Father-son combo was
Sherwood’s foundation
Son of former NFL player lead the Warriors defensive unit this year n
Close bonds help Wildcats to cross country state championship n
BY
NICK CAMMAROTA STAFF WRITER
ERIC GOLDWEIN STAFF WRITER
Sherwood High School’s football team has experienced its fair share of transistion this season, but for the past two years, they’ve had a father-son duo that’s been a constant on the defensive unit. Senior linebacker Paris Atwater and his father — former National Football League safety Steve Atwater — have helped lead the Warriors to back-toback playoff appearances the last two years in spite of significant changes in Sherwood’s staff and player personnel. “[Paris] is not a big in your face yelling type leader, but he leads by example,” Sherwood first-year coach Chris Grier said. At 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, Paris is rarely the biggest player on the field. But like his 6-foot-3 father, an eight-time NFL Pro Bowler, he is an intimidating presence on defense. “When he wants to turn it on, he’s a big hitter,” said senior cornerback Alec Perez. “... He’s not much of a vocal player, but by his actions and his play, he brings everybody up.” Steve, who recorded 1,180 tackles and 24 interceptions in his 11-year NFL career, started working as an assistant midway through the 2012 season. “[Steve] does a great job. A great personality, just like his son,” said Grier, who coached DeMatha Catholic’s freshman team the previous two seasons. “He’s really good about relating football to life.” The Warriors went 9-3 in 2012 under coach Mike Bonavia, making it to the 4A North Region championship game before falling to Westminster in the finals. This year, they brought in a new coach and plugged several new players into the starting lineup, but maintained their high level of play, going 7-4 and losing 42-7 to Paint Branch (10-1) on Friday in the region semifinals. “They’ve dealt with [the
GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
Paris Atwater (left) of visiting Sherwood High School tries to slow down running back Shawn Barlow of Quince Orchard earlier this fall.
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Sherwood High School’s Paris Atwater (back) tries to make a tackle against Gaithersburg on Sept. 7. changes] well,” Steve said. “They’ve done a good job of putting that extra time in.” Paris attended Peachtree Ridge High School in Georgia before moving to Maryland and transferring to Sherwood in 2012. Joining the football team eased the transition, he said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends up here. It’s really like a close-knit community,” Paris
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we won states we all just started screaming and we all just hugged each other. I didn’t even know what to do with myself, I was so happy.” A mere 48 hours after the Wildcats won, they carried out another well-executed strategy to tackle an important issue. They all congregated in Martin’s technology education classroom Nov. 11 at lunch to design their state championship jackets. They settled on black as the base color. “It was almost magical,” Murphy said of winning the title. “In the very beginning of the year everyone was at different spots. At the end, you just start to get closer and closer and closer and it was amazing to see how much better everyone got.” Indeed, this was a very close team. Not only did they enjoy socializing while working hard during practice, but they had team pasta dinners before every race, a team sleepover and constantly dreamed up competitions to keep one another motivated while training. Murphy said assistant coach Ashley St. Denis told her and the team that they were of state championship caliber after they won the Frank Keyser Invitational in September. Slowly but surely that belief sunk in. “The thing that stood out most to me about the championship was that every single one of us was there for each other,” said Bukharin, who originally wanted to play tennis at WJ but found her way to cross country. “We weren’t thinking about times, we weren’t thinking about places. We were just thinking about winning a state championship.” The last time Walter Johnson’s girls won a cross country title, it was the fourth of four consecutive championships won by then-coach Greg Dunston’s teams. A dynasty. Martin was around then, too, and he said that group of girls was incredibly close. He’s been to all of their weddings since and kept in good contact with them as the years have rolled on. “I see a lot of that group in this group,” Martin said. “They’ve made a bond through this endeavor that they surely will never forget.” ncammarota@gazette.net
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said. Having his father on the sidelines helped too, he said. “He can give me a lot of advice for certain techniques for tackling, dropping back into coverage,” Paris said. Paris said that some teammates were star-struck at first by having an NFL star on the sidelines. “Now, everybody just looks
at him as ‘Coach Atwater,’ Paris said. “It’s just a good connection.” Perez, who had seven interceptions as a first-year starting cornerback, said Steve has made a positive impact on the secondary. “Even if our defense doesn’t get beat, he still has pointers to give me. I’m always getting better, no matter what,” Perez said. Paris started at fullback in addition to linebacker this season while earning a 4.0 gradepoint average in the first marking period. “He does what he needs to do,” Grier said. “He plays big on the field.” He said he wants to play football after graduating. His schools of interest include the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Davidson and Princeton. “He’s pretty much all you could ask for from a high school athlete,” Grier said.
In a way, one could argue that Walter Johnson High School’s girls’ cross country team won the Class 4A state championship nine days before it actually happened. On Halloween, the Wildcats shocked the county and, perhaps, themselves by finishing first in the 4A West Region meet at High Point Farm in Clarksburg. In the process they beat BethesdaChevy Chase, the strongest team all season. A team that featured All-Gazette Runner of the Year Nora McUmber and appeared to bealegitimatecontendertothreepeat as 4A state champions. But when Tom Martin’s team placed five runners in the top 16 to beat B-CC by 20 points in that region final, something changed. “That was a big moment for us,” senior Irina Bukharin said. “Over the season we’ve become a much better team, but I think then we realized we really did have an opportunity to win states. That moment, it became important.” Added Martin: “We changed a couple things with some racing strategies between counties and regions and it went a lot better than I thought it would. It’s a lot easier when you get a group of girls that believe in each other and are willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goal.” So, with the newfound confidence of a victory against the Barons, a new racing strategy employed by the 16th-year coach and several of the more talented runners in the area, the Wildcats won a state championship for the first time since 1999. They edged B-CC by four points as junior Kiernan Keller finished fifth, sophomore Emily Murphy placed seventh, freshman Katriane Kirsch was eighth, Bukharin came in 11th and junior Cirillo Melanie rounded out the top five runners in 41st. “I think the synergy of the team pushed us forward,” said Keller, whose work ethic was lauded by Martin as a key factor in motivating the team. “After
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Winning region helped WJ believe it could win it all