The Ellicott City Patriots youth football program got two teams in the Mid-Maryland Youth Football and Cheer League championship round for the second straight year. They also won one title for the second consecutive season.

Coming away with the championship was the 10-12 Liberty team, who blanked the Columbia Ravens 16-0 last Friday night.

The 9-11 Liberty was the other Ellicott City team that made the finals. But Maplewood handed that team a 27-0 defeat in the title game, also on Friday night. Donnie Thompson coached that Ellicott City squad.

For the 10-12 Liberty, that victory capped an undefeated season for coach Bruce Robertson. The Liberty handed the Ravens both of their defeats this year, one in both the regular season and the playoffs.

This capped a strong year for Ellicott City's youth football program, now finishing its fourth season.

The Patriots are the youngest program in Howard County, and president Ken Clark likes how they're growing.

"I think we've got a pretty good reputation in the county," Clark said. "I think word of mouth is helping us grow. Youth football is exploding in Howard County."  

The Patriots took a big step this year. There are five divisions in the league – National, American, Centennial, Liberty and Federal. Ellicott City moved the programs up to the National division, which is the highest level of competition.

But they also put some teams into the Liberty division, which is the second team for any program in that age group, basically a "B" team. This was the first year of existence for the Liberty division.

In addition, Ellicott City also had teams in the Federal division in three of the age groups.

"This was the first year that we moved up to the National division," Clark said. "As a program, we did fairly well, with three of our teams qualifying for the playoffs there. All of our Liberty teams qualified for the playoffs, and two of our Federal teams qualified."

Clark also said that the program had about 370 football players plus 80 cheerleaders involved this season.