Wise, Douglass square off in clash of Upper Marlboro football powers In the parking lot behind James Madison Middle School, a 4-foot-nothing future tailback bobbed eagerly in the heavy heat of a late summer afternoon, waiting for his mother to finish stretching a browned and battered practice jersey. When she finished, he scurried to join his Patuxent Rhinos teammates, all of them fumbling proudly with those shoulder pads that dwarf them now but will someday define their stature in the budding football factory of greater Upper Marlboro. Over the past four years, the two high schools in this corner of Prince George's County, Wise and Douglass, have risen simultaneously to elite status, sending a combined five teams to Maryland state title games. Douglass reached the 2A final in 2011 and 2012, and Wise fell in the 4A final in 2009 and 2010 before winning its first 4A state crown last November. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post) - J.C. Pinkney (right) has led Douglass to the last two Maryland 2A title games. His Eagles get their first crack at Upper Marlboro neighbors Wise on Saturday night. (Doug Kapustin/For The Washington Post) - Senior quarterback Isaiah Black will be under center for the Pumas for Saturday's anticipated matchup. Douglass and Wise will play each other for the first time Saturday at Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex in a game that will showcase the best talent in a region they've lifted to one of the most envied in the Maryland football landscape. "Upper Marlboro is a whole different world," said Potomac (Md.) Coach Ronnie Crump, who has lived in the area for decades and faces off with Douglass annually. They're two premiere programs not only in the county but also the state. Part of the explanation for that unlikely dominance can be found on fields like the one behind James Madison Middle School, where parents watch excited 10-year-olds practice from lawn chairs two deep on the sideline and coaches teach the quick players to be quicker, the big ones to play even bigger and everyone to play harder. "I would have to say the youth programs have a lot to do with [the success of football in Upper Marlboro]," said Earl Hawkins, the director of Prince George's County athletics. [Those teams] are pretty strong and have been for years, and I think that helps a lot. Though there are several youth football programs in the area, the Patuxent Rhinos and Upper Marlboro Mustangs garner recognition as the most prominent in Prince George's County and often attract players to their programs from outside Upper Marlboro. But Upper Marlboro, which produced NFL players Shawne Merriman (who played at Douglass), Josh Wilson and Josh Cribbs, is known for an overflowing pool of raw talent, a natural advantage that didn't consistently translate to state-level success until those teams emerged to hone it. Rick Taylor founded the Rhinos in 2005, and the program has grown to include teams at six different age levels. In 2010, it spawned the Greater Metropolitan Youth Football League, which includes teams from Central and Southern Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia. In 2010, the Rhinos and that league opted for age-based competition rather than the typical weight-classed football approach used in most youth leagues throughout the state. The Mustangs have adopted the same approach. The effect, Taylor said, is that bigger players remain with players of their age and skill level - rather than "playing up" on teams on which they fit in size-wise but may be out of place in terms of maturity or knowledge of the game. Instead of being forced to play out of position or not at all on higher level teams, bigger players playing by age level learn to develop skills at positions that are traditionally less emphasized in youth football: offensive and defensive line.