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Every week, across several sports, players around the DMV shine in individual performance. Every Monday, I’d like to take a minute to highlight some of those performances, including what I view as the best performance and name that athlete the “DMV Star of the Week.”
This week’s DMV Star of the Week is Maryland football running back Roman Hemby. This is the second Maryland running back to be named ‘Star of the Week’ this season; Antwain Littleton received the award following a 120 yard rushing performance in a win over Michigan State.
Hemby may have just one-upped his Terrapin teammate.
In a crucial 31-24 victory over Northwestern in College Park, Hemby carried the ball 24 times for 179 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. That’s an average of 7.5 yards per rush while nearly doubling his season touchdown total from 4 rushing touchdowns to 7 on the year.
Did I mention he’s just a freshman? He already claimed Big 10 Freshman of the Week following his Week 1 performance against Buffalo, and he just won the award again as of late Monday morning (10/24).
Hemby scored the game-winning touchdown late in the 4th quarter for
Maryland on a 75-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career.
The win brings the Terps record to 6-2 overall, making them bowl eligible. It’s the earliest that the school has been bowl eligible since 2001.
“We saw the front that we wanted, and I just came through the mesh, and the linemen got their blocks, the wide receivers worked to the secondary and got their blocks,” Hemby said in regards to his game winning score with 3:22 to go. “I just had to run and beat two people, and I was able to outrun their angles.”
The stud freshman Hemby currently is 26th in the country in rushing yards (681). However, of the 25 players in front of him, only one has fewer attempts than he does this year.
In short, he’s a beast.
Maryland has a bye this week before returning to action on November 5 on the road against Wisconsin.
The DMV saw five teams in action this past week, including The Washington Commanders, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, and Maryland and Howard football teams.
Here are some honorable mention performances for DMV Star of the Week:
Commanders QB Taylor Heinicke performed admirably in his first start of the season, replacing the injured Carson Wentz. In a 23-21 victory over Green Bay, Heinice was 20/33 passing for 201 yards and two touchdowns, including a 37-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin that put Washington up for good.
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma is off to a hot start for Washington. Through three games, he’s averaging a career-high 19.7 PPG and had a stellar 26 point performance in Friday’s 102-100 win over Chicago.
Howard wide receiver Kasey Hawthorne caught 3 passes for 17 yards in Howards 35-17 win over Delaware State on Saturday, but it was Hawthorne's rushing performance that stood out as the speedster ran for 75 yards on just 3 carries and scored a 75 yard touchdown late in the first quarter.
Capitals star Alex Ovechkin had a 4 point performance in Monday’s (10/17) 6-4 victory over Vancouver, participating in four of the six goals with 2 goals and 2 assists.
Here’s what’s coming up this week in DMV Sports:
Washington Commanders: (3-4, 4th in NFC East)
10/30 @ Indianapolis
Washington Capitals: (3-3-0, 6th in Metropolitan Division)
10/24 @ New Jersey
10/27 @ Dallas
10/29 @ Nashville
Washington Wizards: (2-1, T-4th in Eastern Conference)
10/25 vs. Detroit
10/28 vs. Indiana
10/30 @ Boston
Howard University Football: (2-5 Overall, 1-0 in MEAC, T-1st)
10/29 @ Norfolk State
Maryland Football: (6-2 overall, 3-2 in Big 10, 4th in B10 East)
Bye Week