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Class 1A

NORTH	WEST	SOUTH	EAST
SECTION I	SECTION I	SECTION I	SECTION I
Allegany	Carver A&T	Fairmont Heights	Bohemia Manor
Fort hill	Chesapeake	Frederick Douglass	Colonel Richardson
Hancock	Loch Raven	Largo	Havre de Grace
Mountain Ridge	Overlea	North CMIT	Joppatowne
Northern Garrett	Pikesville	SEED	Kent County
Southern Garrett	Randallstown		Patterson Mill
	Sparrows Point		Perryville
	Western STES
SECTION II	SECTION II	SECTION II	SECTION II
Brunswick	Benjamin Franklin	Friendly	Cambridge-South Dorchester
Boonsboro	BDJ/KASA	International School at Largo	Crisfield
Catoctin	Dunbar	Lackey	Mardela
Clear Spring	FAET	McDonough	North Dorchester
Francis Scott Key	Frederick Douglass	South CMIT	Pocomoke
Smithsburg	NAF	Surrattsville	Snow Hill
	New Era Academy		St. Michaels
	Reginald Lewis		Washington

1A Key Players

We pick 12 key players whose performance this season will play a huge role in the success of the team. We will only pick one player from each team, so those teams with multiple stars, we pick the one player we feel their successful season is most important to team success. It could simply be the team's top player, or it could be another player on a deeper team whose successful season will go a long way to the teams year.

1. Matt Grogan, St. Michaels
2. Austin Koehn, Patterson Mill
3. Cameron Kutchey, Smithsburg
4. Zachary Adams, Snow Hill
5. Austin Simms, McDonough
6. Tyson Johnson, Kent County
7. Jared Hancock, Pocomoke
8. Josh Heath, Bohemia Manor
9. Remington Mangum, Colonel Richardson
10. Dalton Shank, Boonsboro
11. Brenden Johnson, Brunswick
12. Riley Horner, Washington

Region Breakdown

1A West

Contenders (In Alphabetical Order)

1. Boonsboro
2. Brunswick
3. Catoctin
4. Smithsburg

The 1A West has been represented in the 1A state championship every year since PBR came to Maryland, with Brunswick picking up back-to-back titles and Boonsboro making it to the Championship game last year. Don’t be surprised to see them do it again in 2018. Boonsboro still has a lot of their key players back from last year’s state title game run. They have one of the better rotations around in Colton Bare (UMBC), Aaron Myers, and Brock Smith as these big three should give the Warriors a chance to win every time they step on the field. Offensively a majority of the team returns led by Dalton Shank. TJ Kallagher should build off a solid sophomore campaign along with fellow sophomores Adam Mathias and Ryan Nolan. The high amount of returning talent a depth makes Boonsboro a leading candidate heading out of the west…Brunswick has a tradition of excellence, and that alone can win games. The Railroaders will again be a tough matchup for anyone and keep an eye on one of the better arms around in LHP Bryson Shaffer. Along with Shaffer, the Railroders will be led by 1B James Marker, SS Geroge Auel, OF/RHP Tyler Polesky, RHP Brendan Johnson and OF Robbie Cruz…Smithsburg will be a very interesting team in 2018 with a nice mixture of experience and young talent that could make for an interesting year this spring. Cameron Kutchey (Loch Haven) will be a big piece to the success this season both on the mound and at the plate. Staying on the pitching side of things, The Leopards return four experienced arms in Kutchey, Noah Allen (Flagler), 2020 John Carter, and Alex Cuevas. Keep an eye out for 2020 LHP Daniel Walter as well, who could add more depth to a talented staff. Offensively seven starters return for the Leopards who were very young last year and got stronger as the year progressed and they are hoping to carry that into the 2018 spring…

1A North

Contenders

1. Pikesville
2. Sparrows Point
3. Western STES

Pikesville has won the region the past two years, but this year could be a little tougher as Pikesville are now joined by their Baltimore County counterparts to make the 1A North the biggest region in the MPSSA. A challenging region, there will be a lot of battling it out across the board. Sparrows Point and Western STES should challenge Pikesville for the title.

1A South

Contenders

1. McDonough
2. McDonough

McDonough plays in one of the toughest conferences in the state in the SMAC and compete for a championship in the conference playing against schools much bigger than them. SMAC school range from 1A to 4A and McDonough competing for the championship for the past three years says a lot about the program. Opposing coaches will be glad to see that C Peyton Myers is in his senior year, and Austin Simms is one of the better two-way players around.

1A East

Contenders

1. Bohemia Manor
2. Colonel Richardson
3. Patterson Mill
4. Snow Hill
5. St. Michaels

The deepest and toughest Region in 1A, the East possess three teams who many would consider the top three candidates to win it all. Defending champ St. Michaels return five offensive starters from their 23-1 campaign, including Bayside Player of the Year Matt Grogan (Salisbury). The Saints have a senior laden team this year with the likes of Andrew Risher, Nathan Howeth (Salisbury), and Trent Saunders, all of whom will again be key players this season. Junior Nick Newnam, is one of the better hitters in the state who is also a speedster that should also steal plenty of bags this year. The Saints offensive ability will not be in doubt this year, but they do have a few questions in the pitching staff after losing Noah Brack who put together one of the more impressive seasons as a two-way player last year. CJ Chansler is also a big loss for the Saints not just offensively, but on the mound especially as he and Brack combined for almost 80 innings gone from last season. Keep an eye out for sophomores Nolan Sawatsky, Jack Luthy, Grant LaBelle, and Ben Morris to see time this year. Junior Jack Vener should also fill some of those innings lost from last season…Colonel Richardson have arguably the best 1-2 combination in the state in their RHP’s 2018 Jacob Zebron (NC State) and 2019 Jamison Covey (Ole Miss) both righty’s have the stuff to take over a game with low 90’s heat and potential to throw harder. Remington Mangum had a breakout year last year for the Colonels and looks for another solid season as a two-way player. Garrett Nepert (NC Central) is another big offensive talent who will provide pop to the offense. As long as they can consistently put up the runs on the offensive end, their pitching depth should help then make a potential run and build off of last year’s 1-4 campaign…Standing in the Colonel’s way this year in section I are Patterson Mill. The Huskies will once again be strong from their 21-3 2017 season. What’s very impressive about the Huskies is that even though they are one of the smallest schools in the UCBAC, they have won the conference the past two years in a row. A very impressive feat with the tough competition the conference has to offer. The Huskies will be paced offensively by OF Max Elliott, who had a very impressive 2017 season hitting over .500 with 22 RBI. Also returning and adding to a dangerous lineup will be seniors Austin Koehn, Steve Spencer and Thomas Kragh. On the mound you will not find many better and more productive than Koehn, who has 16 wins in two year and had close to 60 strikeouts in 55 innings last season. The loss of Jake Sheesley will tough to replace but Carson Uebersax will be back and should assume the No. 2 role with no problem. Finding who will be the third and fourth arms will be the biggest question to round out the pitching staff… Snow Hill should be much improved this season and will contend in the East. Zachary Adams (Campbell) is a top two-way talent around and will give them an opportunity to win anytime he toes the rubber…Bohemia Manor have lost some key pieces to their team from last year, but Josh Heath will still man the shortstop position and will pace the offense…Pocomoke has one of the top players in the state in their catcher Jared Hancock…Kent County will need a big year from their two-way talent Tyson Johnson…

Predictions

1A WEST CHAMP
- Boonsboro

1A NORTH CHAMP
- Sparrows Point

1A SOUTH CHAMP
- McDonough

1A EAST CHAMP
- St. Michaels

State Finals
(Semi-Finals consist of West v North and South v East

Boonsboro v St. Michaels

Champion
St. Michaels

We cannot go against the defending champs who have shown they could beat Colonel’s arms last year and they will have to more than likely do it again this year. Our guess is a repeat of last years final, with Boonsoboro looking to be much improved from last year's squad. That should make for an exciting game.