New JV County Championships Are A Hit With AACPS Student-Athletes, Coaches

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When South River’s junior varsity field hockey team defeated Chesapeake 1-0 on October 22, the Seahawks earned an historic title: Anne Arundel County’s first JV field hockey county champion.

The county implemented JV championship games for every team sport this year, and now that the JV county championships games are established, the reception from players and coaches has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The environments that are created, feedback directly from the athletes, it’s a great environment to be in, and it’s for kids that don’t normally get that opportunity,” said Clayton Culp, Anne Arundel County’s Coordinator of Athletics. “Our goal is to do everything we can to highlight student athletes, and do that in as many ways as possible and in as many venues as possible.”

Work towards that goal began when the county piloted JV county championships in basketball in the 2017-2018 school year, JV soccer championships in 2018 and JV baseball and softball championships last spring, giving each season a trial run of JV championships. Severna Park’s JV girls soccer team was elated to beat rival Broadneck in the first girls soccer county championship last fall. The Falcons’ JV girls basketball team won the county championship over Meade last year. Chesapeake’s softball team became the county’s first JV champion in the spring. Arundel’s JV baseball team won a thriller over Severna Park in the JV baseball championship in May.

On October 21, the JV and varsity soccer championships were held at Northeast, while across town at Glen Burnie the JV and varsity field hockey championships were played. The JV and varsity volleyball championships will be played October 28 at Southern.

The JV soccer boys and girls championship games were held simultaneously at the side-by-side turf fields at Tick Neck Park at Northeast High School.

Arundel JV girls soccer junior Allison Carranza helped her Wildcats to a championship win over South River, and she said everyone was happy to get the chance to play one final game with a championship on the line.

“We’re really excited. We’ve worked really hard this season. We don’t have any losses in the county, so we’re really psyched about that, and we want to show how hard we’ve worked in this game,” said Carranza. “It’s something we looked forward to. With this team and the new players we got, we definitely saw the possibility, and it’s really good to see it happen.”

Even though the JV Seahawks fell to Arundel, South River coach Jess Shue said having the championship to pursue was a great addition to the season.

“It’s fantastic to have that for JV,” said Shue. “It’s not something that we used to get to do. This is my sixth season with the girls, and to have that goal at the end of the season, they all look forward to it, and it’s something to push toward, and it’s great to have that goal to reach. Something a little bit higher-level to push to. It makes you feel a little bit more like varsity, and it’s preparing you for that next level or postseason kind of thing, so it’s been really fun.”

South River’s JV boys soccer team defeated Annapolis in the boys JV county championship. Seahawks sophomore Parsa Sedghi said he and his teammates relished the opportunity and the atmosphere.

“I’m really excited because it’s the first time our school is going to a JV final, and it’s pretty cool because the girls are playing in the field right across from us,” said Sedghi. “It gives us motivation for all of us to win and celebrate afterwards. To have the recognition of working hard all year is great. Plus, we’re playing Annapolis, one of our rivals. Go South River!”

Annapolis JV boys coach Stefan Koziolek noted his team kept the title game in mind throughout the season because it made their big games even bigger.

“This was our team goal,” Kozoliek said. “Our division was very tough with Severna Park and Arundel. We beat Severna Park, tied Broadneck and Arundel, two very difficult games, that’s how we got here, those were our big accomplishments. We feel like we earned our way here, and we feel fortunate to be here.”

Browse high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Game photos by Colin Murphy.

Even though feedback on the JV county championships has been largely positive, not everyone was on board initially, and there were some concerns to navigate. For one, a rule was established that no player who plays in a non-tournament varsity game is allowed to play in the JV county championships. The individual schools, programs and coaches are trusted to manage the movement of players within the program to avoid this situation.

Also, there is one omission: there is no JV football county championship. The statewide Code of Maryland Regulations, as established by the Maryland State Department of Education, limits how many football games can be played and how often; the county’s JV football programs moved with the rest of the state’s varsity programs to a nine-game schedule this season.

Culp said the county is looking at the possibility of holding a championship day in the future. The idea is to hold every county championship game, both JV and varsity, in every sport, all on the same day and at the same location. The event would be a county championship festival; attendees would gain entry, receive a wristband and have access to a full day of events. Logistical challenges remain in pulling this off, but the county hopes to achieve it in a future fall or spring season.

“The part about that idea I love is, if you’re an athlete, if you’re a kid who loves sports, you might stay and watch JV volleyball or unified tennis or go to the cross country meet and see all these other sports that might not be your sport,” said Culp.

Altogether, Culp sees few downsides of JV county championships, because the primary goal is always to enrich the high school sports experience for the kids.

“JV athletics are developmental,” said Culp. “You’re getting them ready to play at the varsity level. So why do they need a culminating event? Is that the purpose of their season? Some people say by having a county championship you’re creating something that isn’t needed for this developmental league. I would say you can do both. You can have a developmental league and also give them a highlight at the end of the season to work towards.”

South River’s JV field hockey players agree. South River freshman Katherine Wanner scored the only goal in her team’s 1-0 win over Chesapeake at Glen Burnie, and the Seahawks avenged their regular-season loss to the Cougars to finish 11-3 and bring the JV county championship trophy to campus.

For South River sophomore and JV captain Caitlin Gerstein, the experience of playing for a championship motivated her and her teammates all season long.

“It’s pretty cool, especially since it’s the first year JV is getting recognition, and it’s cool to be part of the start of the younger generation helping to take over the varsity level,” said Gerstein. “It was a really good motivation to have and to look forward to, and it was something that, we had a goal now. We never had a goal in the past. Obviously we wanted to play well and get pulled up [to varsity], but there was never a set goal, so it was cool to have something to work towards.”

Browse high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Game photos by Colin Murphy. Arundel and South River soccer team photos courtesy of AACPS Athletics

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