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Sports

A Trip to the State Championship on the Line

11-1 Gaithersburg and 11-0 Urbana duke it out Friday night in Gaithersburg for a spot in the Maryland 4A title game.

It's a time of year when people everywhere give thanks. But the Trojans aren't counting their blessings just yet.

For the Gaithersburg High School football team, there is still plenty of work to be done. While this is the best football team the school has produced in a decade, the ultimate prize has yet to be won—a trip back to the Maryland 4A state championship game for the first time since winning it all 10 years ago.  

One more win and they're in.

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Standing in the Trojans' way are the Urbana Hawks, who boast one of the stingiest defenses in the state. How stingy? Urbana hasn't given up a point since Oct. 29, shutting out its last three opponents, including two shutouts in the playoffs. With eight total shutouts this season, it will unquestionably be the biggest test for quarterback Zack Fetters and the high-powered Trojan offense.

It's no surprise that Gaithersburg's biggest focus this week in practice has been trying to figure out how to navigate that Hawks' defense.

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"We're focusing on, No. 1, trying to figure how to score against them. They've got a tremendous defense whose very disciplined and very fundamentally sound," Gaithersburg coach Kreg Kephart said. "They don't make a lot of mistakes. We'd like to force them into doing some things they don't want to do and put them in a situation they haven't been in before."

Leading the charge for the potent Gaithersburg offense is Fetters, one of the most talented players in the state.  Fetters has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards and 28 touchdowns and has also run for more than 600 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns.

The Hawks' defense—led by Blake Gatewood and Colton Kmetz —will look to slow Fetters down and also try to limit the deep threats of Simba Gwashavanhu and Sylvester Oni, who scored twice in last week's 21-20 come-from-behind win against Sherwood, including the game-winner.

On the other side of the ball, Kephart calls the Hawks' offense "opportunistic." Kephart added, "they can run the ball and throw the ball equally well." Gatewood and Wes Garey are Urbana's two biggest offensive weapons at the running back spot for Urbana, which is seeking its first trip to the state championship since 2001.

Urbana won four straight championships from 1998-2001, going undefeated in each of those four seasons (from 1998-2000 Urbana won the Maryland 2A division title and in 2001 the Hawks won the 3A title). A win over Gaithersburg would give the team its first trip to the championship since making the move to 4A . The winner of this game earns a spot in the 4A championship on Dec. 3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and will face the winner of Saturday's Broadneck-Wise game. Broadneck was one of the teams the Trojans beat en route to their state championship in 2000.

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