When Stephen Kelly II finds himself in a tight spot, the quarterback’s safest option is often a heave downfield to a familiar target.
Karon Evans is out there somewhere, Kelly confidently tells herself. Evans can play if you give him a chance.
Late Friday night in Harford Tech’s win over Edgewood, the Cobras needed a play to advance for good. So, naturally, Kelly sought out Evans. The receiver used an ankle-breaking double move to weave past defenders and deliver a pass over his back shoulder. It didn’t result in a point, but Kelly took care of it himself and got a point right after.
“He’s my guy more than anyone else,” the quarterback said emphatically. “There are three of them. I’ll find him.”
In the penultimate week of the regular season, in a battle between Harford County’s two best football teams, Harford Tech won 24-21, handing Edgewood its first loss of the season.
Still, Harford Institute of Technology (7-1) still has doubts, including that their competitors don’t see them as a top prospect. why? Evans doesn’t know, but that’s okay.
“They can stay asleep,” he said.
Kelly finished with three points Friday in the first quarter, a passing touchdown to Evans and two rushing scores from 1 yard left. While the tandem displayed impressive attacking power, it was the Cobras’ defense that shone the brightest.
Quarterback Mike Robinson wowed Edgewood (7-1) during its undefeated period with unstoppable speed and arm strength to match. But he was hampered on Friday, and the rest of the Rams’ offense disappeared with a struggling quarterback.
Edgewood scored on its first two possessions, but was shut out after that until the game was almost out of reach. The Cobras intercepted Robinson twice, forced three punts and had a turnover on downs that stopped the quarterback on the goal line and could have given Edgewood a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter. This allowed Harford Tech’s offense to take the lead in the second half, and the combination of Kelly and Evans clinched the team’s seventh victory.
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The assistant coach, who is “one of the younger coaches that’s pretty quick,” according to head coach Brad Hunt, mimicked Robinson in practice this week and has incredible speed that will be difficult for Harford Tech’s defense to stop. Others that gave him a real feel for being a quarterback.
“He kept a good eye on us,” Hunt said.
“In fact, we focused on containment. [Robinson]” said Evans, who also plays cornerback. “We knew he was a key figure for them.”
Hosting Harford County and the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference is the first step in Harford Tech’s postseason plans. After a handshake line at midfield to end the night, the home team’s players ran up to the scoreboard and posed for photos in front of the good result. Talk of chasing the ring echoed throughout the postgame huddle.
With another win next week, Hunt knows his team has a good chance of hosting an early postseason game. Ideally, he joked, he would avoid the three-hour bus ride.
Friday’s win moved Harford Institute of Technology closer to that lofty goal. The Cobras did something that no one else in the county had yet done in a way that they wanted the rest of their opponents to take notice, but probably didn’t get much attention. After all, they prefer to be ignored.
“We’re still the underdogs,” Kelly said. “They’re still excluding us. But we’re still here.”
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
