Motivated Westlake faces North Point; River Hill defense on a roll The trip to North Point (6-3, 4-3 Southern Maryland Athletic Conference) on Saturday night will only be 2.7 miles, and Westlake (7-2, 6-1) - which has clinched a berth in the 3A South playoffs thanks to its current six-game winning streak - has an opportunity to eliminate its bitter neighborhood rival from the Maryland 4A East race. "Chasing the win is of the utmost importance to us," Westlake Coach Marlon Curtis said. But the kids know the situation and are pretty savvy about it. They understand how North Point is going to be looking at this game. The Eagles have qualified for the playoffs four years in a row, but they need to beat Westlake and get some significant help to make it five straight postseason berths. Their clearest path to the postseason appears to be a win and losses by South River against No. 20 Old Mill and by Meade at Broadneck - both very plausible results. Westlake, meantime, has clinched its 10th straight 3A South berth, but can still finish anywhere from first to fourth in a very competitive region whose tournament will also feature Huntingtown, Potomac and Friendly. "This is one of the easier games to get up for anyway because it's not just a crosstown rival but an across-the-street rival," Curtis said. The other factors are just the icing on the cake. Westlake has ridden its suffocating defense during its six-game streak that followed a rocky 1-2 start. The Wolverines have racked up five shutouts this season, and have allowed just 15 total points during the winning streak. Senior linebacker Marquel Lee has been the team's motivational leader, while defensive linemen Roderick Caine (20.5 sacks) and DaShaun Cummings and linebacker Desmond Holly have also been key. North Point has averaged 37.5 points per game during its last four games, so something will have to give. Game to watch: No. 7 River Hill (9-0) at Howard (5-4), Friday, 7 River Hill has been perfect so far through the 2012 season, but since the beginning of October the Hawks defense has taken that perfection a step further. Since allowing a first quarter rushing touchdown in its 27-13 win over Glenelg on Sept. 28, the Hawks" defense has kept opposing offenses off the board, shutting out each of its last four opponents. The four clean sheets in the month of October run River Hill's season shutout total to six. "The thing is, we go into the game feeling like they're a good team, that they have the potential, but it's our duty to stop them," said senior linebacker Stephan Osong, who blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown in last Friday's win against Wilde Lake. Once we get rolling, we keep that mentality. They're not getting a first down. They're not getting anything. They're going to have to earn everything when they come in. River Hill Coach Brian Van Deusen said that the key to his team's defensive dominance in October has been improved play along the defensive line. Van Deusen said that with his trio of down linemen taking on more blocks and being more disruptive for offenses, the Hawks" five linebackers have been freed up to make more plays and create more turnovers. The Hawks will look to continue their streak into November this Friday when they close out the regular season on the road against a Howard team that needs a win in order to clinch a playoff berth. With the top spot in the Maryland 3A East region already locked up, Van Deusen said Friday will be an opportunity for the Hawks to keep their defensive momentum rolling into the playoffs. "From the first couple weeks on, our guys are a lot more confident," Van Deusen said. The last few weeks with these shutouts, I think they've gotten more confident. We're playing well as a team defensively. They don't want to be scored on. They want to go into each game shooting for that shutout and that's their goal. I'd like to keep that going as long as we can.