ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A victory formation sealed it.
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School from East Baltimore: State Champions. The Poets defeated Calvert High School from Southern Maryland by a final score of 8-0 on Friday afternoon; the lone touchdown from Antonio Lyde the difference-maker.
Kia Faulk, a Baltimore mom, made the journey to watch her son, Brian, play.
"He's on the line, number 15, number one in the state of Maryland in sacks!" Faulk told WMAR, "We just won the state championship!"
The victory for Dunbar marked an incredible moment of joy; the Dunbar community has endured a great deal this year. In the beginning of September, a 12-year-old was shot during the team's first game of the season. A week later, their now-former coach, Lawrence Smith, was taken into FBI custody, under investigation for alleged overtime fraud.
READ MORE: 12-year-old shot during high school football game in East Baltimore
But all of that - everything those players and families couldn't control - is behind them. Friday was about their achievement, an 8-0 championship victory.
"They've been through a lot of adversity this year," Michael Carter, Sr., the Dunbar HS head coach, told reporters after the game Friday.
"Moving the coach midway through the year, not finishing the first two games and then having to work our way through this," Carter continued, "I think they showed resilience, to make sure they stayed on point, stayed intact."
Dunbar had the first matchup on a rainy, chilly Friday evening at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The second belonged to Anne Arundel County's own Broadneck High School.
The program sought its first championship in two decades; a jam-packed crowd on the Broadneck side of the stadium made it feel like a home game.
"It's great. It's electric," said Mark Kincaid, a parent of a Broadneck marching band member, in the crowd Friday.
The final score wasn't the result the Broadneck side wanted: a 21-0 loss.
The team fell in a hard-fought effort against Prince George's County's Dr. Henry A. Wise High School, but the championship appearance Friday marked an incredible run for the entire Broadneck community.
RELATED: Broadneck High School's football squad hopes to win their first State Championship game in 20 years
