The path to the playoffs is now much clearer for the Arundel football team.

Darius Hunter scored a pair of touchdowns and the Arundel defense shut out Old Mill over the final 37 minutes, 25 seconds, as the Wildcats strengthened their playoff hopes with a 12-7 victory over the Patriots on Friday.

The Wildcats defeated the Patriots for the first time since 2014, also a low-scoring affair (14-7).

“It’s really a difficult job to play defense at Arundel,” Wildcats coach Chuck Markiewicz said. “If we score fast you’re on the field and you play a lot. There was a time I thought none of that mattered.”

On a night when the Arundel offense was held well below its average o f 37 points a game, the defense gave up a long drive on Old Mill’s first possession, but nothing the rest of the game.

Ephraim Moore had an interception to end a drive in the first half that led to the Wildcats’ go-ahead score.

With Arundel nursing the slim lead throughout the second half, the Patriots punted the ball twice, turned it over on downs twice and the Wildcats’ Devaun Nevils intercepted a pass at midfield in the final minutes to seal the win.

One of the biggest plays of the second half came when Arundel’s Gereme Spraggins pressured Old Mill quarterback Markus Thompson into an intentional grounding that moved the ball from the Arundel 46 all the way back to the Old Mill 33. The Patriots were forced to punt on the next play. He also had a tackle for loss late in the first half and another late in the game when Old Mill was again in Arundel territory.

“We worked hard this week and we were determined to stop the run game, and that’s what we did,” Spraggins said. “Our offense was able to score 12 points and we got the victory today.”

Old Mill, which has been putting up huge numbers on the ground, was held to 116 yards on 38 carries on Friday. William Oliver had three tackles for losses for the Wildcats.

Arundel (7-2) will play Severna Park next week. Should the Wildcats win that game to improve to 8-2, they would be in the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Friday’s win was their fourth straight since they were sitting at 2-2 following a loss to Broadneck on Sept. 22.

“We’re not even worried about the playoffs right now because we’ve been so focused on trying to get in,” Markiewicz said. “What I hope is we don’t take a deep breath and sigh and get beat next week. Severna Park does some stuff to us that makes it really difficult for us to stop.”

Old Mill (6-3) likely needs to beat South River next week and get some help to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

bhough@capgaznews.com

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