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Sports

Wise High Grads Aid Division II Power

Shepherd of West Virginia beats Bowie State with players from Upper Marlboro.

Andre Makell played football at Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School under head coach DaLawn Parrish.

And now Makell, of Upper Marlboro, is following in the footsteps of his former coach, albeit at a different level.

Makell is a redshirt freshman defensive back at Shepherd, a Division II program in West Virginia. He gives a lot of credit to Parrish, who played in the defensive backfield of Division I Wake Forest in the 1990s.

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"Coach Parrish is a great coach. He helped me a lot. He is easy to talk to," said Makell, who had 13 tackles in the first eight games this season for Shepherd. "He is like a second father to me."

Makell, who attended Kettering Middle School, also considered such colleges as James Madison, Delaware and Towson before deciding to attend Shepherd. "I just felt comfortable. Of course, everyone wants to play at the Division I level," he said.

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"He has played some on special teams," Monte Cater, the veteran head coach of Shepherd, told Patch on Tuesday. "We were pretty thin in the secondary. He has played sparingly there."

Makell is one of several players from Upper Marlboro on the roster of Shepherd, which won at home 38-17 Saturday against Bowie State and improved to 7-2 overall. Bowie State fell to 4-5 overall going into its final game of the season at home Saturday against Chowan of North Carolina.

De'Ontre Johnson, another Wise High grad from Upper Marlboro, is a redshirt freshman outside linebacker for Shepherd and he had 14 tackles in his first eight games this season.

He also blocked a punt that led to a touchdown in a win Oct. 22 against West Virginia State. "He had a great spring his redshirt year," Cater said. "He is getting a chance to play on special teams. He is just a great kid. He has a great attitude."

On the other side of the ball, William McKenzie is a redshirt freshman wide receiver for Shepherd. He returned a kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown against Bowie State to give his team a 13-7 lead. "He has really come on. He is very explosive," Cater said.

He had eight catches in the first nine games of the year and also ran the ball once for five yards. He is from Upper Marlboro and played at Frederick Douglass.

Trevon Butler, from Upper Marlboro and Wise High, is also on the roster for Shepherd as a redshirt freshman wideout. "He has a lot of tools. We have high hopes for him," Cater said.

Shepherd was nationally-ranked earlier this season. "We don't let rankings go to our heads," Makell said.

Wise football beats Flowers on Monday

The Wise High football team, ranked No. 9 this week in The Washington Post, held on to beat Flowers, 21-20, at home Monday afternoon in a class 4A Prince George's County contest. The Pumas stopped a two-point conversion try in the closing seconds for the win.

Uriah Bethea ran for 83 yards for Wise. The Pumas end regular-season play Saturday at Bladensburg High.

In other games Monday, Frederick Douglass beat Surrattsville, 34-12, after building up a 34-0 lead at halftime.

Wise grad Till aids Maryland football

Wise High graduate Titus Till, a redshirt freshman defensive back, had five tackles for Maryland on Saturday in a 28-17 loss at home to Boston College. The Terps host Virginia this Saturday in ACC play. Till has 39 tackles this season, which is sixth on the team. Till is from Upper Marlboro.

Wise High grad Anthony McDaniel, a defensive lineman, had four tackles for James Madison in a loss on Saturday at ODU. DeAndre Smith, also from Wise, also plays for JMU. The Dukes play this Saturday at New Hampshire.

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