Football: Lawrence Smith Named BCA's State Coach of the Year

Dunbar's Lawrence Smith, who took over the Poets following the sudden demise of his mentor and former purpose coach, Ben Eaton, and guided their progam to its second straight Aggregation 1A homeland title last fall, was named National Coach of The Year by the Clouded Coaches and Administrators during a ceremony at their Federal Association and Expo behind weekend in Atlanta.

Smith said BCA officials told him that he was only the second coach from his East Region to be similarly honored, adjacent only former Dunbar basketball and football coach Bob Wade.

"It was a enormous honor. Went down to Atlanta for the convention. I had never heard of the BCA until that time. When I got down there, I saw how big it was and I got to expedient some of the champion coaches in the country -- basketball and football," said Smith, 34, who graduated from Dunbar in 1992.

"We talked about the association, and the black coaches in America future in sync for this convention. It was a great weekend, and a big league honor. The banquet was lovely," said Smith, who then credited assistant coaches Travis Blackston, Anderson Powell, William Crawford, John Shearin and Bernie White.

"I couldn't be here without my staff, and the kids, and each on all sides of me. We all know what happened on August 27, which basically changed my heart and the lives of everyone that has anything to create with an affiliation with the team," Smith said, referring to Coach Ben Eaton's sudden death.

"We just moved forward from there. The team came together. The community came together as a whole, and we knew what we had to do," said Smith, whose Poets finished at 14-0 closest a victory over Allegany in the Crowd 1A kingdom label game.

"The children said that that was what they wanted to do, and we did it in spectacular fashion," Smith said. "Ending the season at 14-0, shattering a number of polity records and winning another state championship."

The 34-year-old Smith is a 1992 graduate of Dunbar, where he played as an offensive lineman during the fall of 1991 under then-coach Pete Pompey.

Smith and Travis Blackston were succeeding assistants on the Northwood of Baltimore City Recreation band which won a Pop Warner Public championship in 2000, a 9-to-11 year-old age bundle squad which featured future Gilman of Baltimore star Ben Eaton Jr.

"That's how I first met Coach Eaton, because we had coached his son owing to he was 8 years old," said Smith, who, with Blackston --the Poets' affronting coordinator -- was asked to accompany Ben Eaton Sr.'s Dunbar staff in the fall of 2001.

Three years later, in 2004, the Poets won their program's third sovereign state title, coming from extreme to defeat Joppatowne of Harford County, 16-14, for the Class 1A state crown.

The crack settle the Poets in an elite group as one of the few programs to win state titles over three different classifications.

In appendix to the Collection 1A title, Dunbar also captured Troop 2A and Congregation 3A crowns under then-coach Stan Mitchell in 1994, and, '95, when Ben Eaton Sr. served as an assistant.

In going 14-0 remain season, the Poets improved their winning streak to 24 consecutive games, covering their fourth and fifth state titles, consecutively, in 2006, and, last fall, respectively, over Allegany County teams Fort Hill and Allegany.

Led by two-time Hurtful Player of The Year, Tavon Austin, the 2007 Poets scored a state-record 196 points in four playoff games, eclipsing the old mark (141) held by state prizewinner Urbana in 1999.

The Poets 58 site tied the write established by Valley High in 1977, when they routed Snow Hill, 58-16, for a governance title. The combined 74 points by Dunbar and Allegany is further a state record.

Smith said the Poets' broad receiver Sean Farr, a 6-foot-4, 190-pounder who can run a 4.6-second 40-yard dash, was offered a full football scholarship to the University of Akron on Wednesday.

Farr caught 49 passes for 1,408 yards and 18 touchdowns from quarterback Jonathan Perry, who threw for 2,290 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The Poets very return defensive end-linebacker prospect Horace Miller, who false 17 sacks last season, as well as linebacker Tevin Brown, two-way lineman Antonio Brown, linebacker-defensive end prospect Gary Oneukwusi and running back-receiver-return specialist Davon Muse.

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