Some Carroll County football tidbits for the 2024 season

Hard to believe August is almost here, and with that it's also hard to believe the first day of fall sports practice for the 2024 season is two weeks away.

So, I figured it would be a good time to dole out some fun facts and figures ahead of the Carroll County Athletic League football season. Enjoy!

Century is 9 wins away from getting to the 100 mark in its program history. The Knights are 91-129 all-time.

And while doing it in one season would mean a very successful campaign, it's not an impossible task. In fact, Century put together a 10-0 regular season in 2008 and reached the state semifinals that year before losing to River Hill and posting a 12-1 record.

Francis Scott Key is 9 wins away from 200 in its football history. The Eagles started playing varsity football in 1968 and have only two coaches with a winning record. John Baugher went 30-13 from 2002-05, and Dave Dolch went 7-3 in his one season (2001).

And while coach David Cunningham's squad went 1-9 a year ago, Key dropped 5 of those games by one score.

Liberty eclipsed 200 all-time wins last season and the Lions are 202-255 in their all-time history, dating to 1980.

Other than wanting to make a deep playoff run, this fall is also about longtime coach Larry Luthe. He's sitting at 76 career wins, 3 away from passing Herb Ruby for third most in Carroll County history.

Ruby went 78-61-11 at Westminster as the Owls first-ever football coach, from 1947-62.

Ken "Speedy" Johnson is next on the all-time list with 85 wins, having coached at Liberty (1993-2001) and Winters Mill (2003-12).

And Ken Parker (South Carroll, 1968-91) is the county's all-time leader with 127 career wins.

Manchester Valley is getting closer to the .500 mark in program history. The Mavericks are 71-83 with two coaches in their history.

Tony Shermeyer went 40-55 as Man Valley's first coach (2009-17), and current coach Bernie Koontz is 31-28.

The Mavs got past 70 victories at the end of last season, and No. 71 was a big one -- a 23-15 playoff win over county rival Westminster.

South Carroll is 316-268-1 in its long history, which started in 1968. The Cavaliers have had 7 coaches all-time, and 4 of them have winning records.

I mentioned Ken Parker before, who went 127-115-1. Gene Brown went 63-60 from 1992-2003, and Steve Luette posted a 66-37 record from 2009-17.

Mike Kraus went 31-18 in his 5 seasons before Mike Crumley took over last fall. And while SC went 3-7, the Cavs won 3 of their final 4 games of the season.

Westminster has the most all-time wins in county history with 427, so 3 more gets the Owls to 430. And they have the coach with the best winning percentage in Carroll history at the helm.

Chris Bassler enters his 6th season with a 41-11 record, good for a .788 winning percentage.

That tops FSK's John Baugher (.688) and SC's Steve Luette (.641) for the No. 1 spot.

(Dave Dolch's .700 is technically better, but he only coached the 1 season.)

Bassler is 9 wins away from becoming the 13th county coach to reach 50 career victories.

Winters Mill can get to 80 all-time wins with 2 victories this year, and the Falcons made a big push to get to this point by going 9-2 a season ago.

Matt Miller, who has been WM's coach since 2013, is trying to become the program's all-time wins leader. He still has a ways to go -- Miller is 32-73, 14 wins from tying Ken Johnson's 46 victories.