Life, one Slice at a time

01•17•16

#8 Maryland Women Terps win in College Park

Kristen Confroy and Paint Branch alumni Brene Moseley teamed up for 41 of the Terps 80 points for a conference win over the Northwestern women’s basketball team.

Moseley, the former All-Met point guard, entered the game coming off the bench and proceeded to lead the Lady Terps to a 44-30 half time lead by scoring 11 of her 17 points. Confroy played 38 minutes and tied a Maryland record by hitting 8 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc for 24 points to lead all scorers.

In the post-game news conference Maryland women’s coach Brenda Frese complimented both Moseley and Confroy for their play on Sunday. Maryland also had two other players in double figures with Brionna Jones adding 14 along with S. Walker-Kimbrough’s 15.

Maryland’s record is 16-2 and 5-1 in the conference and is expected to remain among the nations top 10 women’s teams in this week’s polls.

Photos| Phil Fabrizio

12•16•15

Together at that 1 time of the year

Season ending high school sports awards abound at this time of year. For those student athletes who excelled it is rewarding to be recognized now as best amongst your peers both here in the county and across the DMV.

Accolades for MoCo student-athletes did suffer an indirect loss this year. The Gaithersburg Gazette weekly newspaper is no longer in existence and seasonally produced an all county individual listing. Regardless, the competition amongst MoCo standouts remains high it just now lacks the local props.

I, for my part couldn’t conceive, how best to proceed with filling a void of identifying the best of the best – nor shall I try. However, there is one standout – or should I preface that as a team that stands out this year in the county.

The standout is Jake Funk, running back and defensive back for the 2015 3A Maryland State Football Champions of Damascus that is the #1 team that he played on.

I had five opportunities in 2015 to catch the Damascus Hornets in action, one pre-season tune up, two regular season and two state playoff games. I was not a latecomer to that funky noise going down off of Route 27. Rather, I first heard that noise in all places on a foggy, wet muddy night in Rockville, October 16, 2014 to be exact. It was a 3A match up between Rockville Rams and the Hornets. Back then expectations was for a state championship, the Hornets however they fell short in Baltimore in the state finals of that year.

A desire was born that night of the failed championship – it was for the Hornets to return to Baltimore and claim their #1 place in MoCo and state football history.

2015. Enter Jake Funk.

Already the preseason hype upcounty was all about this talented student-athlete. My brother, a JV coach at Damascus sung his praise to me during the summer. But I already knew as did the many Division I, II and III schools that lined up for views along Route 27.

My challenge this year was how best to capture Funk in motion. In all honesty it was never what I expected. I did not recognize during the games just how powerful and fundamentally sound the entire Damascus team was, especially the offensive line, and the offensive backfield, the ends and oh, how about the defense. They all simply crushed their opponents.

In reviewing the photos for this layout all the above became apparent and that in over 15 plus years of shooting, college or high school football, I never had as many wide open shots of a running back going through the opposing defensive line. The Damascus opponents I photographed were no pushovers either – they included Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, Reservoir, and Dundalk all ranked teams in their own right.

It was – Funk, right, Funk Left, Funk up the middle, in the wildcat, on sweeps, catching a pass, blocking and even tackling where he left his mark.

It was too easy. I gave up shooting Funk from the sidelines I just headed for the end zone and waited. A state record 57 times he would end up there mostly a result of the Swarm of Hornets blocking for him. I saw a third of the 57 – that’s pretty good odds to capture scoring action. I saw enough of him hitting the line full speed and then suddenly appear in the secondary out of the grasp of multiple defenders. I saw him with wingmen on either side, solo, and for good measure – face mask to face mask with an opponent.

I saw Funk finally rest in Baltimore on December 3rd on the sidelines his job done after scoring seven touchdowns along with those first stringers that made it happen – both defensively and offensively. Yes, the coaches played a huge part – the Swarm was prepared – and any of you, who played, watched, photographed, covered, or just tuned in for the first time was not. It was over in the blink of a high school football career.

All that remains are glory day legends and stories of the time “we” played for or against Damascus. And it is time for brothers who played on the team, Funk’s and Bradshaw’s, and two Fabrizio’s who watched from the sidelines in season.

One short year gone by and it is Damascus – Team 1.

To the Damascus Hornets Champions – you all started as 1 and finished 2015 that way, together.

11•22•15

Friday Night Thrills and Agonies

Thank ABC’s Wide World of Sports and broadcaster Jim McKay for one of sports television’s greatest spoken phrases – that basically ended with “… the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” It is always at this time of year during state championship playoffs when you visualize how this part of sports phraseology becomes so real.

The money shot for sports photographers are the smiling faces of the victors, the pile at midfield, the game winning home run, the buzzer beater shot to win a championship. Having covered many championship runs by local high school teams I have my fair share of victory and defeat images, from smiles to tears. To me it’s always the sullen looks or contemplative poses upon those who have lost that grab you and hold you most in the moment.

For the competitors at the end it’s all on the field. You and they can sense it in the screams of joy for the winners and the sobbing consolation of the defeated. It’s all there within earshot and camera view.

It is a defining moment in a young persons lifetime – for some the great feelings should never end, for others it becomes a moment they do not want to relive, and then for some it becomes a challenge to try even harder not to feel that agony again.

The feelings are momentary and maybe they last only a week until the next challenge comes along. But it is a part of life in competitive sports, someone has to win and someone has to lose. Lucky are those who learn to balance both emotional swings of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Here are some of those final moment images of a well-fought MD 4a West Regional Championship football game from last Friday Night in Gaithersburg, MD in which Northwest was the victor and Quince Orchard the vanquished.

Phil

11•05•15

Peaking Through the Fog

It was Halloween morning, 2015, and I planned on joining my running buddies for a walk/run along the C&O Canal at Old Anglers Inn. That night before the weather conditions changed and it became apparent that this Saturday morning run would start out cool and probably foggy. I grabbed my camera and tripod instead of my Brooks Beast’s.

It’s 7AM at Old Anglers and the six of us would trek out to the canal – some to walk, some to run and me to carry my equipment to the big pool of canal water a mile away.

Frankly I was hoping for brilliant fall foliage to reflect into the mirrored water of the canal water below Great Falls. What I got was white fog and plenty of it.

Strange how fog moves – like in the movies – it’s slow and enveloping. One moment you think you see the other side of the canal and 10 seconds later it’s fogged in. My challenge was to focus on something that I could see and grab whatever color shape the foliage 50 yards across the water would give me. I resigned myself that I would have to enhance the image later in Photoshop.

I was at the Mile 13 mark for nearly 90 minutes – my running buddies had returned by this stakeout and then left me long ago for coffee and a bagel while I rubbed my hands to keep warm in the 34-degree fog. There was no visual sighting of the sun since the fog bank that enveloped the Potomac Gorge snuffed out any strands of golden autumn sunlight till well after I left for Sprinkles in Potomac Village.

We are lucky in the DMV – blessed with many scenic national parks – many of which we can reach without too much trouble or effort. What I have learned over time is that the views always change, whether it’s the Jeff Memorial, the Glen Echo Carousel or the C&O canal. You never know what basically to expect till you get there so you need to arrive early or stay late to get the views that others miss.

This upcoming year on August 25, 2016 the country will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service (NPS). Follow the NPS by going to FindYourPark.com to find out what is happening at a park near you then tweet your photos to #FindYourPark.

I will be traveling in 2016 and I plan on taking along my cameras and my National Park Passport and finding those scenic views like those where I have peaked through the morning fog.

C&O Canal – Big Water above Old Anglers Inn and below the Great Falls

10•25•15

A lasting Friday Night Light for Good Counsel Senior’s

High School memories linger.

Ask Bruce Springsteen or any other popular artists who write and sing about these special glory days.

So it was for many seniors in Olney last Friday Night at Our Lady of the Good Counsel High School. Families, friends, teachers and coaches linger for those moments before that senior walks across the football field and stands before the home crowd. This scene will be repeated over the next three weeks as other Montgomery County schools perform the same honor.

There are those moments after the festivities for all players and spirit members to be alone with their thoughts as the opposing team, Gonzaga in this instance, comes onto the field and all await the rush onto field prior to the National Anthem, for the last time.

The outcome for Good Counsel was not favorable on this evening. But does it really matter – because some day they may watch and recollect their days and hopefully replay a set of similar emotions as their will children experience on that glory day.

Gonzaga 35 Good Counsel 13 and it is handshake.