Corey Eudell, in his fourth season as Centennial’s head football coach, finally got to call a play his team has practiced every day.
The victory formation.
A Win Four Years in the Making
Centennial’s 19-16 victory over Northwood snapped the Eagles’ 44-game losing streak, the longest active skid in Maryland. After Northwood failed to convert on fourth down with about two minutes remaining, Centennial took possession, picked up a first down, and ran out the clock by taking a knee.
“There were so many emotions,” Eudell said. “The look on the kids’ faces; a couple of seniors were crying. These kids have endured so much – even in the building.”
Sports coverage often focuses on successful programs and elite recruits. But sometimes the most meaningful stories are about a team like Centennial that keeps showing up, players who refuse to give up, and a coach who, for the first time, gets to call the play he practices every day.
“We run (the victory formation) in practice every day,” Eudell said. “We want to get the guys to simulate winning something.”
It all came together Friday night in Montgomery County, where Centennial visited a Northwood program that had endured similar struggles. Northwood lost 52 consecutive games on the field between 2019 and 2025, although one of those losses was later overturned by forfeit.
Eagles Have Endured Roster Struggles in 2026
Like many struggling programs, Centennial has dealt with player shortages. The varsity roster numbered about 25 during the team’s 0-7 start to the 2026 season. With Northwood not fielding a junior varsity team, Centennial took the opportunity last week to shut down its own JV squad and move those players up to varsity for the rest of the season.
Centennial also made a change at quarterback. The new starter had been playing on the JV team and had played only flag football before this season. Even so, he was an upgrade over the wide receiver who had been pressed into quarterback duty after the projected starter quit during the preseason.
“We put all of our chips in the middle of the table, and it panned out for us,” Eudell said.
Waliek Langley scored two rushing touchdowns and Chuba Okoro added a third on Friday, leading Centennial to its first victory since a 34-6 win over Hammond on Sept. 9, 2022. The 19-16 decision Friday also marked Centennial’s best defensive showing since that 2022 victory over Hammond.
Although Centennial’s lengthy losing streak was a recent development, the program’s football struggles date back decades. The Eagles have never won a playoff game and, before Maryland adopted an open playoff format, qualified for the postseason only once – in 1980. The program’s fortunes sank so low that Centennial, then a Class 3A school, shut down its varsity football team in 2017 to focus on rebuilding through the junior varsity team.
Centennial reinstated its varsity football program in 2018 under coach Billy Martin, but the struggles continued. The Eagles went 0-10 in 2018, 1-8 in 2019 and 0-4 in the pandemic-interrupted 2020 season. Centennial posted back-to-back 1-9 seasons in Martin’s final two years as head coach.
Centennial Has Endured Nearly 70 Games Since 2018
Eudell took over in 2023, and the program posted back-to-back 0-10 seasons. Last year, Centennial was 0-9, and the only thing keeping it from an 0-10 season was that it opted out of the playoffs instead of playing a first-round contest against eventual state semifinalist Westminster.
Centennial began taking steps to address the problem last season, when the county granted the program a two-year leave from the county league, allowing it to schedule more appropriate competition. Although the Eagles remained winless, their defense produced its second-best showing since 2016.
Eudell, who is from Syracuse, N.Y., arrived at Centennial in 2014 and initially coached basketball. He was a varsity assistant when the Eagles won the Class 3A boys basketball state championship in 2015. That fall, he joined the football staff as the Eagles went 0-10.
Eudell, who also coaches track, has experienced significant success in other sports at Centennial, including the basketball state title and several track state champions. Football, however, has been a different story. In 2016, the Eagles went 1-9, and Eudell was the JV coach in 2017, tasked with helping rebuild the program from the bottom up.
Centennial’s identity as a Howard County school has long been tied more closely to soccer than football. Since Centennial opened in 1977, it has earned a reputation as a “soccer school.” The results support that label: the boys' and girls' programs have combined for 22 state tournament appearances and 13 state championships, with the titles nearly evenly split between them.
Eudell said the soccer tradition is so strong that the homecoming football game is played on a Saturday afternoon to give the coveted Friday night field time to the boys and girls soccer teams.
Eudell said Centennial football faces a double-whammy. The school does not draw many students with youth football experience, and as the varsity team loses, other students become less likely to join the program. The shrinking player pool makes it even harder to turn things around.
“It’s hard to explain to kids who say they won’t come out because ‘we suck’ that actually ‘we suck’ because they don’t come out,” Eudell said.
The losing streak has also affected how Centennial's players experience school life.
“Our kids wear a shirt and tie on game day,” he said. “They don’t want to wear their jersey because of the ridicule they have to endure.”
But for one night, the frustration of years of losing gave way to the joy of finally winning.
“We keep telling them, we’re a good football team, we’re going to win some games, we’re going to do something special, then we run out of gas,” Eudell said. He pointed to a midseason loss to Poolesville as “the one that got away.” Centennial led in the fourth quarter before Poolesville scored on its final drive to secure a 24-21 victory. “That one was really deflating.”
Centennial had suffered three consecutive running-clock shutout losses before traveling to Northwood.
The Eagles Enjoyed Their Night of Celebration
A video taken by a school administrator captured the final seconds ticking off the clock. Players and coaches rushed the field, and fans came out of the grandstand to greet the team. The celebration could have been mistaken for the aftermath of a state championship, not a victory that snapped a 44-game losing streak.
“A whole range of emotions,” Eudell said, trying to recapture the moment. “It felt like a great weight was just lifted off of the guys.”
Centennial hosts Manchester Valley on Friday. The Eagles remain a long shot, but Friday's win has given the team renewed confidence and Eudell reason to believe in a brighter future, and perhaps to soon run the victory formation again.
The Balancing Act
For every winner, there’s a loser. And this time of year, I enjoy focusing on the extremes – undefeated vs. winless.
Entering Week 9, there are nine undefeated and 10 winless MPSSAA teams.
Interestingly, two of the winless teams – Brunswick and Catoctin – meet in Friday’s regular-season finale, meaning one will pick up its first win of the season.
By class, here are the undefeated teams:
4A - Quince Orchard, Wise
4A-3A - none
3A - Guilford Park, Oakdale, Towson
2A - Huntingtown
2A-1A - Easton, Elkton
1A - Fort Hill
On the other end of the spectrum, here are the winless teams:
4A - Bladensburg
4A-3A - Digital Harbor*, Perry Hall
3A - Rockville, Watkins Mill
2A - La Plata
2A-1A - Joppatowne, North East-Cecil
1A - Brunswick, Catoctin
*-Digital Harbor won two games on the field, but later forfeited those results.
All MPSSAA teams are eligible for postseason play, and the association has not yet confirmed whether any teams have opted out. The deadline to declare participation is later this week. Last year, a record eight teams elected not to enter the playoffs.
Trouble Finding The End Zone
Unsurprisingly, four of the five lowest-scoring teams this year are winless. North East-Cecil has scored only 18 points, followed by Bladensburg (20), Patterson (22), Rockville (26), and Watkins Mill (30). Patterson is 2-6, but one win was earned by forfeit.
For Bladensburg, this year’s 20 points top the 14 points it scored in 2025. The year before that, Bladensburg scored 46 points. In all, the Mustangs have scored 12 touchdowns over the past three seasons. They have lost 29 straight games on the field, though a pair of forfeit wins in 2025 leaves their official losing streak at 11.
Turnover at No. 1
Despite its prominence in Maryland high school football, DeMatha’s appearance at No. 1 in last week’s Media State Poll marked the first time since 2017 that the Stags had occupied the top spot. Since then, St. Frances Academy has largely owned the state’s No. 1 ranking.
DeMatha’s 12-0 loss to St. John’s (D.C.) in a clash of WCAC and East region powers puts that No. 1 ranking in jeopardy. St. Frances, which was idle last week, appears poised to reclaim the top spot.
Losing to an out-of-state opponent does not automatically cost a team its No. 1 ranking. But in this case, DeMatha’s defeat likely will be enough to prompt another change at the top, even without St. Frances taking the field.
Could Archbishop Spalding complicate that picture? The Cavaliers have held firm at No. 3 all season, but their season-opening loss to DeMatha makes a jump over the Stags difficult to justify. Spalding remains part of the conversation, but the more likely outcome is St. Frances and DeMatha finishing 1-2 in some order.
The bigger question is whether the revolving door at No. 1 will continue or if St. Frances has done enough to secure its seventh top ranking in the past nine seasons.
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