Northwest football: Future is now
Northwest head football coach Mark Maradei is getting acclimated to his surroundings pretty quickly. He was already tweaking his offense during the Jaguars' seven-on-seven matchup with Gaithersburg on June 8.
He knows he has something special.
"I see a lot of what Andrew [Fields, former Northwest coach] saw, which is a bunch of good athletes all over the field," said Maradei. "We scored very easily on the first few drives."
This could be the year Northwest makes a deep playoff run, thanks in large part to its returning skill players. Against the Trojans, the Jaguars unleashed a smorgasbord of weaponry, starting with rising senior quarterback Jarrhett Butler. The soon-to-be third-year starter fired a quartet of scoring passes, both standing upright and on the move.
The offense's breadwinner, rising senior halfback Hassan Dixon, was used sparingly. But question mark looked like exclamation point at wideout, where the Jaguars enter the season with new starters Alieu Nyass and Javann Stewart.
-Head coach: Mark Maradei, first year
-Last year's record: 6-5, 4A state playoffs
-Key losses: TE Marcus Whitfield, DL/OL Drew Cheripko, OL/DL Brandon Myers, WR Marcel Bright
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