By Keith Mills 

Princeton 31, Harvard 28. What does that have to do with Baltimore high school sports? A great deal, considering two of the key players in last weekend's legendary Ivy League matchup are two of the best scholar-athletes to come out of Bel Air High School.

Two years ago, identical twins Adam and Andrew Berry formed the area's premier passing-catching duo. They led the Bel Air Bobcats to back-to-back state playoff berths, including the Class 3A state semifinal game. Andrew Berry was the starting quarterback and Adam Berry was his favorite receiver.

Adam Berry is a starting wide receiver for Princeton.

Now, the brothers are starters for the pair of Ivy League powers that met last Saturday in a battle of nationally-ranked 1-AA teams. Adam Berry is a starting wide receiver for Princeton and Andrew Berry is a starting defensive back for Harvard. 

"It's an exciting day," said their father, Drew Berry, from his hotel room in New Jersey just a few hours before kickoff. "We have about 40 people coming up from home and we're going to have a reception for the kids after the game. It's going to be a really nice day; now we just have to get through it." 

Adam Berry's Tigers won the 99th game between these two storied schools on a late touchdown to keep Princeton's unbeaten season alive. Princeton is now 6-0 and Harvard fell to 5-1.

Their parents survived the head-to-head matchup and both twins played well. Adam Berry caught two passes for 20 yards, including a big 17-yard, third-down reception. Andrew Berry got his first career interception, had five tackles and covered his brother man-to-man for much of the game. 

Drew Berry, the president and general manager of WMAR-TV, spent a lot of time talking with me about high school football, but he never boasted about the twins. I remember the anxiety he felt when the twins were about to play their first varsity game back in 2002, and the elation two years later when Andrew Berry hit Adam Berry with a 50-yard touchdown pass as the Bobcats beat North Harford to stay unbeaten. I also remember the enormous pride he felt when his sons decided to attend Princeton and Harvard. 

Andrew Berry is a starting defensive back for Harvard.

Andrew Berry is about a minute older than his brother. He was a three-year All-County and two-year All-State wide receiver and defensive back who also started at third base on the baseball team. He was Bel Air's senior class president and member of the National and Spanish Honor Societies. 

Adam Berry was All-County and All-State in football as a quarterback and is Bel Air's all-time record holder in touchdown passes and passing yards, both for a season and a career. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and a Maryland Distinguished Scholar.

The twins earned identical 1430 scores on their SATs and shared the No. 1 ranking in their senior class. Two years ago Andrew Berry was named grand prize winner of the prestigious Scholar Athlete Award, given annually by the Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation.

"I am very humbled to win this award," he said at the award ceremony. "I want to thank my mom and dad and especially my brother, Adam, for helping win this award. It would not have happened without him."

Saturday's game would not have been played without Drew and Brenda Berry, who never missed a game when the twins were piling up big wins for Bruce Riley's Bobcats. Riley and nine members of the Bel Air coaching staff also attended the game. 

Both players were the targets of some good-natured trash talking prior to the game.  "It wasn't Adam or Andrew," Drew Berry said. "It was both teams. The Harvard guys were giving it to Adam pretty good and the Princeton guys were trying to get to Andrew."

Adam Berry had the final say on the scoreboard as Princeton squeezed out a three-point win to stay perfect and sent the Berry family back to Bel Air with a win . . . and a loss.
"It was crazy," Drew Berry said. "I was trying to juggle my family and friends and watch the game at the same time. But it was strange. Brenda and I are used to sitting far away from the crowd and just watching the game. This was different.

"Both guys had their moments. Andrew got his first interception and Adam leveled Andrew on a block on one of Princeton's touchdowns. But it was definitely an interesting day."

***

Julia Bouchelle of Notre Dame Prep and Christine Nairn of Archbishop Spalding will play in the U.S. National Under-16 Soccer Inter-Regionals on Thanksgiving weekend. Both players are members of the Under-16 national pool. Julia's older sister Zoe went on to play at Penn State and this past summer helped the Washington Freedom win the Under-20 Women's National Championship. Ali Andrzejewski, a two-time state player of the year at McDonogh, also played on the Freedom.

Meagan Holmes of Dulaney and Hayley Siegel of Centennial are both members of the U.S. National Under-20 team. Holmes is a starting defender for the University of Southern California while Siegel is a starting midfielder for Santa Clara, which has a 12-3 record and is ranked fifth in the nation. 

Issue 1.27: October 26, 2006