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Forestville Military Academy football coach Charles Harley twice stressed his post-game comments were not sour grapes and he didn't want to take anything away from Baltimore's Dunbar High, which beat the Knights 34-25 in a 1A South Region playoff game Saturday.

But he did want to make a point: Prince George's County schools have a disadvantage when competing against schools from other counties because they are not playing by the same rules.

"In the state of Maryland, they have to do something," Harely said. "We can't have two different sets of rules."

The rules in question are those for academic eligibility of. In Prince George's County, students must maintain a 2.0 grade point average and have no failing grades on the previous quarter's report card in order to play sports.

"We have guys with a 3.0 in our school but one E in a class and [they] can't play," Harley said. "I'm down to 23 players."

By contrast, the Baltimore City eligibility policy has no minimum GPA and allows no more than one non-passing grade.

Six of the 23 Forestville players who suited up for Saturday's game were freshmen. The Knights do not have a junior varsity team. Harley said that left a group of about 16 to play both sides of the ball for the entire game.

Dunbar has 37 players listed on its varsity roster and has not only a junior varsity program, but also a freshman team.

"Take nothing from [Dunbar], I don't know if much matters, but it's still going to be tough year in, year out for us in P.G. County, particularly a 1A school," Harley said.

Getting big

Frederick Douglass is one of the county's traditional powers in football, but the Eagles came into this season with an inexperienced offensive line.

But you'd never know from the way the Douglass offense has produced this season. The Eagles have scored 330 points in 11 games, taking advantage of an uncharacteristically versatile offense. Third-year starting quarterback Richard Barber has thrown for 1,031 yards and 14 touchdowns while superbly directing the option attack that has been Douglass' staple for years.

But before Friday night's 24-12 victory against Glenelg in the 2A South Region semifinals, the Eagles needed to tinker with their personnel. Douglass coach J.C. Pinkney said Glenelg's size along its defensive front and an injury prompted him to make two key changes. Defensive tackle Herman Ellis, a 6-foot-2, 305-pound senior, played one of the offensive guard spots, and guard Bernardo Richards (6-0, 280) moved to center in place of starter Delonte Ragland, who suffered an ankle injury in the Eagles' loss to Forestville on Oct. 24.

"Herman helped us shore up inside, because we're a little small in there," Pinkney said. "We got a little more movement because of our size. We did pretty well. I liked the combination we had out there. It gave us a big package on offense."

To say the least, the moves suited running back Emmanuel Paul, who ran for 185 yards and two touchdowns despite soft, muddy field conditions.

"I came out and tested the field and everything was good," Paul said. "My cleats were good. I felt like I was gonna do real good out here."

Informed that several Gwynn Park coaches were in the stands watching Friday's game, Paul said he was eager for a rematch against the Yellow Jackets. With Barber sidelined by a foot injury, Gwynn Park beat Douglass, 35-14, in a regular season game on Oct. 19.

"I think they saw a healthy Douglass team," Paul said of the Gwynn Park observers. "That's been our motivation, to get another crack at them. That's going to be the game of the week."

The Eagles get their wish, as Gwynn Park won the other 2A South semifinal, 28-25, against McDonough on Monday.

Let there be more light

The Charles H. Flowers High School football team has grown accustomed to preparing for playoff games in its brief history. The Springdale school, which opened in 2000 and began playing a varsity schedule in 2001, will play in its sixth 4A South Region final on Saturday.

But the Jaguars have one limitation when the postseason arrives: a lack of daylight.

The last class of the day at Flowers ends at 4:10 p.m., leaving less than an hour before the sun sets once daylight savings time ends the first week of November.

The school has set up some temporary lights at the top of the bleachers, but they don't exactly get the job done.

"We use them lights up there," said running back John Clark after Saturday's 34-27 win against Suitland, gesturing toward the bleachers. "They probably light up half the field. But we get our practice in. We use the little bit of light we've got and we practice. There's no worry about it."

Ready to hoop

As he spent much of last summer focused on football, Bishop McNamara senior Brandon Coleman was noticeably absent from the Mustangs' basketball activities. Coleman spent his time training and concentrating on his numerous college options. The senior wide receiver has multiple Division I football offers.

Coleman previously said he wasn't going to play basketball this winter, but he has changed his mind.

"I am going to play," Coleman said in the locker room following the McNamara football team's season-ending loss at Good Counsel last week. "I just felt like I wanted to play and I wanted to finish my senior year off on a better note than losing in football."

McNamara boys' basketball coach Marty Keithline said he knew of Coleman's decision several weeks ago, and added he is elated to have the 6-foot-7 swingman back on the team.

Staff writers Terron Hampton, Ken Sain and Seth Elkin contributed to this report.