DECEMBER 7, 2023
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
FREE
Seahawks capture state championship Stephen Decatur football goes undefeated on way to bringing home 2A title
PHOTO COURTESY TARA FISCHER
Celebrating their championhip season at Stephen Decatur High School are, from left, Seahawks football standouts Brycen Coleman, Gavin Solito, Careen Bolden and Coach Jake Coleman.
By Bruce C. Walls Contributing Writer (Dec. 7, 2023) It’s great to see a community come out and support its local high school varsity football team like this one has done and, oh yes, there was a football game. Last Thursday evening, Stephen Decatur High School football fans filled the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to witness history. The team left Berlin surrounded by a surprise send-off of banners, streamers and fanfare from a swarm of students, community members, family and friends. Fans lined Berlin’s streets to watch the small parade assembled and wished the team well as it left for Annapolis. A few hours later the team returned home the conquering hero’s after pushing the Hurricanes of Huntington, Maryland out to sea, 2113. On the way home, the team bus was met by an escort of fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles blasting sirens with blue and red lights flashing following them home to Stephen Decatur.
Everyone in the Naval Academy stands knew the Seahawks were there to claim the MPSSAA Class 2A Maryland State Championship Trophy they had been steadfastly pursuing. The Seahawks were there on a mission that began for Coach Jake Coleman back in 1996 when a team from Cambridge South Dorchester was the last Eastern Shore team to make the finals. Now the head coach of Decatur, PHOTO COURTESY TARA FISCHER C o l e m a n The Class 2A championship q u a r t e r - trophy now rests at Stephen backed that Decatur High School. Cambridge team. He has coached the Stephen Decatur Seahawks team for four years. Coleman’s son Vanderbiltbound Brycen, is on his father’s Decatur team as a quarterback and plays other positions. When asked, Coach Coleman said See DECATUR Page 5
OP Chamber reaches out under new name In bid to broaden base, Pines organization rebrands with ‘Worcester County’ title By Cindy Hoffman Staff Writer (Dec. 7, 2023) The Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce has rebranded itself as the Worcester County Chamber of Commerce ... and the results are mixed.
Kerrie Bunting, the executive director for the chamber, said on a recent podcast that this is just a name change and does not change the way the chamber does business. But the announcement has raised concerns with the Ocean Pines Board of Directors and others. Bunting’s perspective is that Ocean Pines is the largest residential community in the county. And being an HOA, not a municipality, it is just
from the north to the south gate. Her goal, she said, is to connect businesses across the county with this large residential population. “In the past couple of years, we have stepped into that leadership position representing the community on the county level,” Bunting said. Bunting said that it can be confusing for businesses outside of Ocean Pines as to why they would want to join the Ocean Pines Chamber of
Commerce. “We are marrying the customers with the businesses. We’ve been operating on the countywide scope for the past five years so this name change really just goes with that,” Bunting said. The chamber initiated discussions of a name change in May, according to Bunting, who said her group invited every county commissioner, See OP Page 4