Largo High Grad Leads Bowie State to Home Win

Ramono Flowers began his college career at a Division I school. And on Saturday, he showed that major college flair as he ran for 144 yards and Bowie State University won at home, 31-14, against Benedict in Division II college football.

A graduate of Largo High School, Flowers transferred to Bowie State from Central Michigan. He carried the ball just three times for minus two yards in the first game of the season, as Bowie State won at Assumption College.

Bowie State is now 2-0 this season and hosts Livingstone at 1 p.m. Saturday in its homecoming game.

Against Benedict, Bowie State quarterback Andre Johnson completed 12 of 20 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Clifton Budd, another quarterback for Bowie State, completed seven of 15 passes for 80 yards and one score.

Delano Johnson, a standout linebacker for Bowie State, had eight tackles and Bakarie Bayoh had six.

“We didn't get an opportunity to really practice this week because of the bad weather, but the guys responded and made plays when we needed to," Damon Wilson, the head coach for Bowie State, said on the school athletic website. “If we can eliminate the penalties and get better in the red zone, I believe we'll have a good year.”

Wise High football rolls to win

The Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High football team rolled to a 61-0 win on Monday against High Point High. The game was postponed to Monday due to wet fields in Prince George's County over the weekend.

On Tuesday, Wise head coach DaLawn Parrish told Patch that his team ran just 18 offensive plays.

"Those guys play hard," he said of High Point. "You try to treat them with respect. You don't want to celebrate" too much when the game is lopsided.

Parrish said he pulled a lot of his top players midway through the second quarter.

High Point was 0-10 last year and began its season with a 49-0 loss to Laurel. Wise is 2-0 after a 30-7 win in its first game against Franklin High of Baltimore County.

Wise was No. 9 last week in The Washington Post poll. The Pumas play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Roosevelt in Greenbelt in a clash of top teams. The Raiders beat Bowie on Monday, 35-7.

Wise High grad aids JMU

Upper Marlboro resident Anthony McDaniel, a graduate of Wise High School, has seen limited action this year for James Madison in college football. He is a redshirt freshman defensive tackle.

"He is still young. He will be fine. He has a lot of ability," JMU head coach Mickey Matthews told Patch on Monday. "We feel he will be a good player. We have high hopes for him in the future."

JMU won, 14-9, at home Saturday over Central Connecticut after losing at North Carolina to start the season.

"We had five turnovers in the game," Matthews said of the win Saturday. "We turned the ball over in critical situations. We are okay. We are fine. We just need to get better with what we are doing."

Local product is pitching coach 

Bobby St. Pierre, a former resident of Upper Marlboro, never quite made it to the Major Leagues. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the seventh round out of the University of Richmond in 1995 and was an all-star pitcher in the high Class A Florida State League the following year.

But his playing career ended after pitching in the minor leagues with the Cleveland Indians, and also in the independent Atlantic League with Newark. Now St. Pierre, a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, is trying to help a new generation of pitchers realize their Major League dreams.

St. Pierre recently finished his fourth season as the pitching coach for the Burlington (NC) Royals in the Appalachian League. A short-season league filled with young players, Burlington is a farm club of the Kansas City Royals.

“We did have a good year with wins and losses,” he said of Burlington. “The pitching staff as a whole got better.” Burlington was 24-44 overall and had a team ERA of 5.00, which ranked eighth in the 10-team league. One of the top prospects for Burlington was Eric Cantrell, who played at Oakton High in Northern Virginia and was drafted by the Royals in 2010 out of George Washington University.

Cantrell was 0-5 with an ERA of 4.53 on the season, though he had an ERA of 3.42 in August.

“It was tough for him to be in a short season this year,” St. Pierre said. “He got stronger and better as the year went on. It was a mental hurdle for him to get over."

The Royals have one of the top farm systems in baseball, according to industry leader Baseball America.

Before this season, the Royals had several of the top prospects in baseball.

“I am happy with the organization and the direction it is going,” St. Pierre said. “The young kids we have are getting there (to the big leagues) and starting to make an impact. I am happy with the direction of the club and the people that I am working with.”

St. Pierre lives with his wife and young son on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. He is involved in a baseball recruiting camp at Georgetown Prep in Montgomery County that conducts clinics for young players in January.

Others that are involved include Kevin and Mark Gibbs, who played in high school at St. John's and at the minor league level. Mark played for the Bowie Baysox while Kevin was drafted out of ODU by the Dodgers.

Another person involved in the youth clinics is former Riverdale Baptist standout Chris Rodriguez, the head coach at Georgetown Prep.

As a young boy St. Pierre lived with his parents in Riverdale. They later moved to Upper Marlboro when he was about 8 years old. During that time his father taught in the English department at Bishop McNamara High. The family later moved to Calvert County.