Bob Slagle has seen it all. Fifteen seasons at Aberdeen High followed by 15 at Edgewood have given the basketball coach plenty of memories.
“I have participated in more than 60 of these games, and they are always intense and exciting,” Slagle said. “There is no greater feeling than coming out on the floor and the stands are completely filled and there is a noise and excitement that turns the adrenaline on.”
The former coach, who retired from Edgewood in 2000, is now the commissioner of the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference ? the athletic league under which Harford and Cecil county teams participate. Slagle wasn?t in the house Wednesday night, but the two Route 40 corridor programs added another classic to the hit list.
Visiting Aberdeen closed on an 8-0 run to defeat a stubborn Edgewood team, 67-59, in overtime.
“The electricity in the crowd is not like a normal game,” Aberdeen athletic director Matt Roberts said before the rivals met to open conference play.
With that in mind, tickets were sold within the schools leading up to the game, leaving fans outside the gym in search for tickets. Amid concerns surrounding recent gang activity in the area, all the action was on the court thanks to plenty of extra Edgewood High staff and Harford County police in attendance.
“Great ballgame,” Edgewood first-year coach Lamont “Speedy” Pennick said. “If we could play it again, we?d play it tomorrow.”
Not only are the players aware of the history between the programs, but also the fans and the communities in general.
“You see Edgewood on the schedule, and you put a star next to that,” Eagles ninth-year coach Richard Hart said. “These communities are so close. They communicate.”
The rivalry is so intense, it was one of the first things Pennick heard about when he came from Morgan State.
“I heard a lot about it. I was looking forward and excited to see the atmosphere,” Pennick said shortly after the loss. “It lived up to its expectations. Hopefully when we go there, it?s the same, and in the years to come, it?s the same but we?re on the opposite side.”
Aberdeen (4-5) has won three state titles ? 1951, 1976 and in 2000 ? while Edgewood won titles in 1975 and 1997. Hart is glad to see Edgewood (5-4) competing again, like they did early in his nine-year tenure at Aberdeen.
“Recently, it hasn?t been what it was for the first five or six years,” Hart said. “Tonight brought back those memories.”
His Eagles have won each of the first two official UCBAC championships since the league?s inception. They defeated Edgewood last February for the title.
The rivals will meet again in Aberdeen on Jan. 26, and don?t expect anything different. Aberdeen junior R.J. Johnson ? who scored 11 points, including two clutch three-pointers in overtime ? sees only one difference between playing at Edgewood and at home.
“The gym,” he said. “That?s about it.”
