2014 Fall Awards (partial- more to come)

The Bears had a successful Fall season as measured in all dimensions relevant to the schools values. It’s early yet (the WaPo’ s All Met teams tend to be released late); so hopefully, there will be subsequent reports.

Cross Country

Coach Hunt is building a powerhouse and this year his Bears captured their 3^rd consecutive Montgomery County Private School Championships and they earned a second at the Interstate Athletic Conference (IAC) Championships. The strength of the team is shown by the below lists of All-IAC and All MoCo awards which are include a Freshman, two Sophomores and one junior:

All-IAC Jack Chlopak ’17 Ben Gilbert ’16 Wesley Feldman ’17

All-Montgomery County Jack Chlopak ’17 Ben Gilbert ’16 Will Powell ’17 Kevin Tsai ’18

Water Polo

The Dixon Pool is a scene of emerging talent present and past (Rob Spencer ’11 earned Div. III All American for Connecticut College). Coach Bartman’s team racked up a record of 24 wins and achieved the number two position at the Eastern Prep Championships. The following water polo players earned post season awards:

All-Eastern Prep Alex Ashy ’15 Blake Dannenbaum ’16 Isher Gill ’16

Again, two of these exceptional should form the basis of the 2015 season.

Soccer

Coach Reed had a tough season filled with injuries and was able to beat or tie each of the IAC opponents. One senior and one junior earned all-league honors:

All-IAC Charles Branche ’16 Zach Cooper ’15

Football

The team banquet was an extraordinarily well decorated and planned event thanks to the efforts of Captains’ Moms Regen Thomas (Johari), Lindsey Rupp (Colton), Tracy Crittenberger (Tommy), Roz Williams (Kolby) and Cathy Padalino (Paul). All season long they provided food for the boys at the away games and managed the delivery of sports drinks/water. There’s a great deal of work and much of it goes unnoticed. It is a great tradition and a source of team unity. Their thoughtful actions are much appreciated by all.

Coach Padalino gave an eloquent review of the 2014 season with quotes from Charles Dickens, Coach Vince Lombardi and famed sports writer Grantland Rice. His grasp of relevant wisdom from these well-known writers/coaches may qualify Coach P to teach humanities next year.

He underlined how close this year’s 5-4-1 team came to winning more games; the Bears’ wins were by an average of 30 points and the losses/tie were by a margin of less than nine points. The Offense totaled 3,114 yards on the ground and the Defense held their opponents to almost 1/3 of that (1,105). Fast backs and well executed line play were the reasons for the gains; solid positioning and aggressive tackling by the NG, DTs, DEs, LBs and DBs were the basis for limiting the other side of the ball.

He reviewed the help and promise of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 team members. Then, he called each of seniors up to demonstrate his appreciation for all 21 seniors. The coach’s insight into each player was further proof of the teacher/mentor/coach model is working. Suffice it to say that a few or the parents got somewhat emotional during this soliloquy.

The last segment was the awards for the team:

All IAC

1^st Team

DB      Johari Johnson

DL       Kolby Williams

LB       Paul Padalino

OL       Peter Millspaugh

DL       Keith Simms

2^nd Team

RB      Colton Rupp

OL       Thomas Evans

OL       Trent Whalen

2014 Awards

Lunch Pail                Tommy Crittenberger

Hanker Award                      Rob Adkins

Offensive MVP                     Colton Rupp

Linemen of the Year           Kolby Williams

Defensive MVP                    Paul Padalino

MVP                                       Johari Johnson

2015 Captains

Keith Simms

Josh Hunter

Griffin Brown

The IAC has become increasingly competitive with the return of Georgetown Prep to the league plus the “talent finding” efforts of SSSA, Episcopal and Bullis (7 college recruits). The Bears team is filled with young men who will “lead meaningful and considered lives of purpose, lives that are marked by timeless values like honor and responsibility, civility and integrity, determination and perseverance, caring and collaboration.” While those words describe a noble goal, they really apply to these 21 seniors, based on getting to know most of them over their years inside the white rocks.