By Keith Mills

They sat side by side in the grandstand at Lumsden-Scott Stadium on Nov. 21, directly below the press box at midfield. They were surrounded by a group of former players who came back to support their alma mater and the two men who helped shape their lives.

Obie Barnes Sr. and Carroll Reavis, a football and lacrosse coaching tandem for nearly 40 years, were together again, this time as spectators watching their former team, the Forest Park Foresters, who took on Dunbar in the Class 1A South Region championship game at the Poly-Western athletic complex.

"Wouldn't miss this one," said Barnes Sr., who attended the game with his wife Itetha. "They're still our guys. We love 'em."

Dunbar won the game, 20-0, sending the Poets back into the state semifinals and ending the Foresters' magical season. Forest Park had entered the showdown with an 11-0 record, its first unbeaten and untied season in 40 years.

"1969 was the school's last unbeaten season," said Barnes. "There's some guys here from that team."

There was also a handful from the 1979 team, the school's last championship club. Back then Barnes was in his 10th year of a teaching-coaching career at Forest Park that began in 1969 and ended two years ago when he handed the reins of his beloved program over to his sons, Obie Junior (O.J.) and Chris.

O.J. Barnes, the school's all-time single season rushing leader (1,752 yards in 1991), was the team's head coach last year, while Chris, an all-state tight end at Dunbar in 1999, was one of his assistants. Both had to step down because of work schedules that made it impossible for them to coach.

Damon Bomar, a former assistant at Lake Clifton, took over as head coach. Along with assistants Dwayne Barnes, Sean Markley, Shawn Waller, Frank Collins, Richard Kennedy and Steve Everette, Bomar helped the Foresters return to glory and to the state quarterfinals for the first time in eight years. Under Barnes, Forest Park had earned seven state playoff berths and played for four region championships.

The Foresters won their first playoff game in three years on Nov. 13 against Carver and took on a Dunbar team going for its fourth straight state title and seventh overall.

Forest Park's agile and tough defense -- led by Dane Woods, Angelo Lewis and Sean Patterson -- kept Nathan Ayers and the usually high-powered Poets offense in check for most of the first quarter. The first break came on the last play of the period when Forest Park was forced to punt. Keon Hill's kick hit the back of blocking back Antonio Hill and rolled dead at the Foresters' 26-yard line. Two plays later, Evan Pittman hit Deontay McManus for a 17-yard touchdown pass. Ayers ran for the two-point conversion and the Poets led, 8-0.

It stayed that way until the third quarter, although the Foresters threatened to score late in the first half. Travis Fonseca completed a swing pass that Lewis turned into a 39-yard gain to the Dunbar 15. On fourth down, with 37 seconds left, Forest Park's fake field goal ended with Lewis sweeping left. He was stopped one yard short of the first down at the Poets' 10.

Dunbar took control of the game early in the third quarter as Pittman hit Christopher Robinson with a 9-yard touchdown pass. Ayers, who rushed for 99 yards, added another touchdown 10 minutes later for a 20-0 lead.

The loss may have spoiled Forest Park's unbeaten season, but it certainly didn't ruin it. Under Bomar, the Foresters ripped through their city's Division II schedule unbeaten, with a balanced offense led by Fonseca, Lewis, Chidi Flowers, Andrew Allen, Patrick Makell and an offensive line that featured James Queen, Patterson, Hill, Woods and Harold Carr.

"They finished 2-8 last year," said Obie Barnes Sr., "but I really think O.J. and Chris and last year's staff really taught them some good things and laid down the foundation for this year. And Damon and his staff have taken it from there. They have done a tremendous job with this team and we couldn't be more proud."

Neither could Thomas Hill, a Michigan native and former teammate of Ravens coach John Harbaugh at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor. Hill was named principal at Forest Park, relocating to West Baltimore just last month..

"This has been great for the school," said Hill, who was dressed in a green Forest Park sweat suit. He spent the entire game walking the sidelines and urging on the Forester players. "We had an alumni reception last and it's been great," he said.

And so it is again for Dunbar.

In the teeth of some wicked controversy and the graduation of 22 seniors (including standouts Tavon Austin, Sean Farr, Jonathan Perry, Antonio Brown and Courtney Bridget), head coach Lawrence Smith and his staff of Travis Blackston, Anderson Powell, William Crawford, Felipe Jackson and David Lewis have done a marvelous job getting the Poets back into the state semifinals.

After the Poets lost their only game of the year to Patterson Sept. 12, five Dunbar players were arrested for the stabbing and beating of a 14-year-old Baltimore County teenager. The mother of one of the players was also arrested. The incident shocked and devastated the entire Dunbar community, though Smith, also a Baltimore City police officer, and his staff did a phenomenal job of keeping his young team focused and committed.

Now the Poets are alive to win yet another state championship. A year ago, Dunbar beat Fort Hill for its third straight Class 1A state title, driving 92 yards in just over a minute for the winning touchdown and two-point conversion in one of greatest high school endings in Maryland.

Next up for the Poets is unbeaten Catoctin (12-0) Nov. 27 in Thurmont.  With a win, Dunbar will play either Joppatowne or Allegany Dec. 5 at M&T Bank Stadium.

Posted November 24, 2009