Posted: Thursday, August 21, 2014 11:44 pm

Where does the time go? Summer is almost over already, which means it's time for some football. That also means the annual Queen City Quad Preseason Football Classic with the host Fort Hill Sentinels is about to jump start area football. It seems like only yesterday Fort Hill was being crowned a state champion. And now the Sentinels are already preparing to defend their title this Saturday at the friendly confines of Greenway Avenue Stadium. The Quad kicks off at 3 p.m.

This is the sixth year of the four-team high school football contest that is held every August. The other three teams participating this year with Fort Hill will be North Point of Waldorf, North County of Glen Burnie, and T.C. Williams of Alexandria, Va. All three of the visiting schools rank as Class 4A in size, which is the largest high school sports classification in the state of Maryland. All three maintain more than 2,000 students in grades 9-12.

T.C. Williams will be making its fifth straight appearance at the Queen City Quad. Most people will recognize the name of this school from the Hollywood movie “Remember The Titans,” which was based on a true story in which Denzel Washington played the lead role of football coach Herman Boone.

These current day Titans will be the largest school represented at the Quad with 3,161 students. Head coach Dennis Randolph enters his eighth season at the helm and continues to declare, “If there is a Queen City Quad, we want to be a part of it.” Getting a chance to watch the Titans come out of their locker room with their traditional song and dance routine, just like in the movie, is a treat for not just the spectators, but for all the other players on other teams as well.

North Point will be making its second trip to the Quad after being a first-time participant last year. The Eagles from Charles County just barely missed making the Class 4A playoffs in 2013. The newcomer this year will be North County. The Knights are coached by Albert Jones.

What makes this preseason tune-up important to all the coaches involved is the ability for their players to compete against different personnel and strategies. Each school will get to perform against the other three while using first-down chains and referees in a true game setting.

Also, on the upper practice fields, Fort Hill will simultaneously host a JV football scrimmage with T.C. Williams and North County. In all, more than 320 student-athletes and coaches will participate at the Queen City Quad.

In the last 10 years or so, it has become extremely difficult finding football games for the Cumberland city high schools. Getting teams to visit while driving two to three hours over the mountains has become quite a task. The value of the Queen City Quad has become an important function for local sports. Let's hope it continues. Even more important ... let’s play some football!