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The Catoctin High football team plowed through the mud to beat host Walkersville 20-14 on Friday.

The Cougars slogged out 329 yards of offense, most straight through the bog of a midfield. Senior quarterback Dylan May scored on a 13-yard touchdown, while senior running back Paul Barbour and junior running back Eric Barbour each ran in 1-yard touchdowns.

"It's just unbelievable that our team is this close, how much brotherhood is on this team," Paul Barbour said.

"We do everything together. We win together, we lose together. Well, we haven't lost yet, and we don't plan on it."

The mud-caked band of brothers improved to 8-0, and is now 1-0 in the Piedmont-Blue Conference of the Monocacy Valley Athletic League.

The Barbour brother make up two-thirds of the Catoctin three-headed running back.

Eric Barbour lines up opposite junior Austin Carter, who led the team with 100 yards on 16 carries. Paul Barbour, the tailback, had 78 yards on 14 carries.

"That's the first time we both scored in the same game," Paul Barbour said. "One time, I got credit for a touchdown that he ran in, too."

The younger brother has either three or four touchdowns this year, depending on statistical typos.

"I'll let him have the glory for that one," Eric Barbour said.

The brothers said there is plenty of in-home competition, something that carries over to the entire team – there's three sets of brothers on the roster, including twin junior defensive backs Kellam and Nicholas Maxey, along with junior lineman Craig and senior receiver Nickolas Nowaczyk.

Eric Barbour called the team their second family. And against the Lions (5-3, 0-1), they were there to pick each other up out of the mud.

"I just tried to keep my feet under me and my legs moving all the time," Eric Barbour said.

Walkersville's attack was drastically altered by the weather, as speedy junior receiver/unning back Jose Depadua had difficulty finding traction.

He had only 28 yards of offense, while junior Quentin Ezell, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound fullback, rumbled for 201 yards on 24 carries.

The first time Ezell touched the ball, he ran for a 69-yard touchdown. His fifth touch was a 38-yard touchdown. When the Lions kept the ball in his hands, the offense moved forward. In the second half, seven of the first 10 Walkersville plays called were carries from Ezell.

But every time the Lions needed a big pass for either a fourth down conversion or a last-second score in the second half, the rain and mud washed out the attack.

Catoctin's Paul Barbour follows the lead block of Austin Carter.