Big football games on tap for Week 8 across Carroll County

Hard to believe the 2022 Carroll County high school football regular season is down to two weeks remaining, but life moves pretty fast to quote the great philosopher Ferris Bueller (look him up, young ones).

Anyway, there's still plenty to play for around the county. The Carroll County Athletic League title remains up for grabs. There's jockeying to do for postseason seeds (the top four teams in each region begin the playoffs at home).

Let's see who plays who and what's on the line entering Week 8.

Liberty (5-2, overall, 4-0 CCAL) at Westminster (6-1, 3-1)

When: Friday at 7

What's up: Next in line for the biggest game of the season. Liberty needed a win over South Carroll last week to get to this point, which it did -- the Lions prevailed 35-34 in another instant classic (SC and Liberty played in one last season, too). This week is a matchup of Carroll's top two QBs in Liberty's Jack Pellicciotti (a county best 1,276 passing yards, 14 TDs) and Westminster's Kyrece Walker (1,141 yards, county best 16 TDs). The game will also likely feature the county's top receivers in Westminster's Mason Fisher (28 catches, 523 yards, 8 TDs) and Liberty's Sam Evans (26 catches, 535 yards, 8 TDs). Simply put, stars will get a chance to shine at Ruby Field this week.

Manchester Valley (3-4, 2-3) at Winters Mill (3-3, 2-2)

When: Friday at 7

What's up: Mavericks QB Jake Boog eclipsed 1,000 passing yards last week and the Mavs won their second game in a row. Boog is third in Carroll with 1,136 yards and he has thrown nine TDs. Winters Mill's offense is being led by Shawn Restivo, who has 293 rushing yards and three TDs (5.5 yards per carry). The Falcons can even their all-time series with MV with a win this week (Man Valley is 7-6 against WM with three wins in a row).

Century (1-6, 1-3) at South Carroll (6-1, 3-1)

When: Friday at 6:30

What's up: The Cavaliers saw their impressive 15-game regular-season win streak come to an end last week, but they're still sitting atop the Class 2A-1A West Region playoff standings in the chase for the top spot. SC's AJ Rodrigues leads the county with 935 rushing yards, and he's averaging 7.2 yards per carry. He scored three TDs and threw for another in the Liberty game. Rodrigues also leads Carroll in scoring with 90 points (15 touchdowns). Colin Perrier anchors Century's defense with 58 tackles (third most in Carroll) and four sacks, while teammate Casey Clark has three INTs.

Francis Scott Key (1-6) at Crofton (0-7)

When: Friday at 6

What's up: The Eagles want nothing more than to end their 5-game losing skid, and they hit the road to Anne Arundel County to face a Cardinals squad that recently got handed a slew of forfeits that date back to the 2021 season. Crofton was 4-3 this year before being hit with ineligible player penalties from its school system, according to an Oct. 18 article in the Capital Gazette. FSK running backs Kaleb Booker and Jermaine Dawson have each rushed for 219 yards, and quarterback Ben Stevens has added 222. Gary Bavetta leads Key's defense with 4 sacks.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Westminster is in first place in the Class 3A North by the slimmest of margins. The Owls have an 8.57 point average, ahead of Edgewood (6-1, 8.43) and Bel Air (7-0, 8.43). Edgewood and Bel Air play each other in Week 9, so a Westminster win this week would likely go a long way toward staying in front of the regional pack. Manchester Valley (3.57) is in sixth place in the standings.

In 2A-1A West, it's South Carroll (9.04) and Liberty (6.9) in the top two spots. The Cavs stayed ahead of the Lions thanks in part to their Week 3 win over Westminster, which gave them bonus points for beating a larger school. Winters Mill (4.2) is in sixth place, so a win over 3A Man Valley would be big for the Falcons' push toward a top-4 spot. Remember, with everyone making the playoffs and eight teams in each region, those who finish 1-4 would have a home game to start the postseason.

Francis Scott Key (1.3) sits in seventh place in 2A-1A West, and Century (1.0) is in seventh in 2A West.

Before you go, let's take a look back at the South Carroll-Liberty clash from Oct. 14 (Week 7). It came down to the final minutes, just as it did in 2021. CMSportsNet was there to stream the action, and we put together a highlights package. Enjoy!