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Maryland Exiles Win State Club Title

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Maryland Exiles Win State Club Title

The Maryland Exiles shut out West Carroll to garner some revenge for an earlier loss and in doing so won the Maryland state HS club championship.

West Carroll won a very close regular season matchup, and both teams looked strong coming of their semifinal wins.

The first half had the Exiles running into the wind and the West Carroll Marauders tried to take advantage, pinning Maryland back in their own end with a good kicking game. Possession see-sawed back and forth; with West Carroll playing a good portion of the first period in the Exiles half of the field. A couple of Exiles attacks penetrated the Marauder's half of the field, but West Carroll’s Campbell Livingstone was able to send long kicks to reverse the field position. The wind proved a factor when it blew an early West Carroll penalty kick off course, negating the first chance for points.  

The Marauders had several other opportunities but could not punch the ball in. The Exiles looked to get themselves on the board when a good attack produced an opportunity for prop Adam Tounkara to finish in the corner, but the ball slipped from his grasp and was ruled a knock-on. The first half with closed tied at 0-0 and with possession and opportunities mirroring what was seen earlier this season between these two teams - nearly everything 50/50.

Opening the second half, the Exiles had both the wind and a size advantage up front that began to wear on the West Carroll defense. The first points of the game came 17 minutes into the 2nd half when Exiles No. 8 Charles Martel was able to break through after a series of pick-and-drives. Nathaniel Turak hit the conversion to make it 7-0 Exiles. The Exiles continued to press the attack but had a hard time extending their lead. Maryland was doing a good job maintaining possession and frustrating the West Carroll attack, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time. With less then six minutes left in the game, scrumhalf Ryan Hunt found a hole in the Marauders defense and slipped in for the second try of the game, pushing the Exiles lead to 12-0.  An insurance try would come just minutes later when Martel picked up from the base of scrum close to the West Carroll line and punched in for his second try of the day.  The 19-0 lead would stand in the last couple minutes of the game, giving the Exiles a 7th consecutive HS Club championship.