Football
Six picked for $20,000 in scholarships
The Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner brings together football players from all over the Greater Baltimore area each year to celebrate their success on the field and in the classroom.
Some will go on to play college football at Power Five schools. Some will play for programs that don’t draw the national spotlight. Some won’t play another down of football.
All, however, will likely continue their academic success.
Gilman’s Thomas Booker, Howard’s Alan Gorny, Oakdale’s Bryce De Maille, Hereford’s Joshua Wegrzyn, Parkville’s Mark Quesnel and C. Milton Wright’s James Walsh were named the regional winners Wednesday night at the 55th annual Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner at Martin’s West.
Chosen from among 65 nominees from Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford and Howard counties, the winners will share in scholarship money totaling $20,000. Winners are chosen from five regions with Quesnel and Walsh both selected from Region II.
Each is one of the top students at his school and a steady force for the football team.
Booker helped lead the Greyhounds to a late-season resurgence as they reached the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title game despite posting a 5-7 record. An All-Metro first-team selection as a defensive end, he is also a two-time all-state selection. Headed to Stanford to play football and study economics, he has a 95 academic average.
Gorny, an offensive lineman who will play football at Johns Hopkins, led the Howard County-champion Lions (12-1) in pancake blocks as they reached the Class 4A state semifinals. He was a first-team All-Howard County selection. Ranked No. 1 in his class with a 4.6 GPA, he is a National Merit Commended Scholar.
De Maille, whose Bears finished 9-2 with a regional semifinal appearance, was the Frederick County Offensive Player of the Year at tight end. He is headed to play for Delaware. Ranked No. 1 in his class, he belongs to the National, Science and Math Honor Societies.
Wegrzyn, Hereford’s quarterback and a team captain, helped the Bulls to an 8-4 season and an appearance in the Class 2A North regional final. He was a second-team All-Baltimore County selection and played in the county senior all-star game.
Quesnel, was a team captain for a Parkville squad that finished 6-4 and just missed the playoffs. An Eagle Scout and a Junior Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps leader, he ranks in the top 5 percent of his class.
Walsh was a second-team All-Harford County selection at tight end and a team captain as the Mustangs (7-4) reached the regional semifinals. He ranks in the top 5 percent of his class, is vice president of the National Honor Society and belongs to the Math and Science Honor Societies.
The event, sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, also honored the top high school football programs from the past season. St. Frances won the A. Paul Menton Award as the No. 1 team in the Baltimore area. Two state champions — Dunbar in Class 1A and Linganore in Class 3A — received the Ben Eaton Sr. Championship Award, named for the Poets’ late coach.