Douglass was hardly challenged en route to its first state championship in football, and enough experienced talent is back to suggest another run is in the cards. But how the Eagles handle the challenges unprecedented success brings will determine if they are remembered as a Prince George’s County dynasty.  Last year’s record: 14-0, beat Dunbar (Baltimore) in the Maryland 2A state championship game  Returning starters: 5 offense/7 defense  Style of play: Triple option offense/4-3 defense  Key returning players: Senior QB/DB Devin Butler, senior RB/LB Thomas Rogers, senior DT/OL Glenwood Williams, senior DB/RB Ke’shawn Hall, senior DE Tyler Jackson-Turner, senior LB/TE Tyriec Matthews, senior CB Jerrod Williamson, junior DE Marcus Bowman, junior WR/CB Kollin Smith  Toughest matchups: Sep. 11 at Riverdale Baptist: The Eagles begin the season with a highly anticipated Friday night Upper Marlboro rivalry game at Wise on Sept. 4, but they might not see a more talented team than the following week against the Crusaders.  Oct. 24 at Potomac (Md.): The Wolverines were the only team to keep the final score within three touchdowns against Douglass last season and will likely be their biggest threat in the Prince George’s 3A/2A/1A regular season standings again this year.  Bring up the notion that Douglass could suffer a letdown coming off the greatest football season in school history, and Coach J.C. Pinckney will point to one of his lesser-known seniors kicking up dirt on the school’s practice field — one of the players who spent two years on junior varsity and only moved up to varsity during last year’s undefeated state championship run. It wasn’t one of his stars, or even the Division I prospects.  See, the Douglass JV went undefeated in 2012 and lost just once in 2013, so many of the players filling in for the collection of seniors who led the Eagles to unprecedented heights last fall have suffered just one loss during their entire high school football career. These guys, Pinckney insists, are just used to winning at this point.  “It’s the same goal every year,” said returning senior quarterback Devin Butler, a Maryland defensive back recruit. “You forget what happened.”  Oftentimes, all Butler needs to do is look at his offensive line to put this all in perspective. Gone are four starters, including Delano Dunmore, who will attend an alternative school for his senior year after a gun incident last spring. Tailbacks Mikale Makele and Akiva Wedge must be replaced as well. But Pinckney isn’t messing with a formula that worked so well last year.  Butler will continue to lead the Douglass triple option along with returning tailback Thomas Rogers. Both are also starters on a defense that could match its predecessors under longtime coordinator Bill Johnson. Defensive lineman Marcus Bowman is generating interest from power five conference schools and the secondary is filled with veterans who were a part of last year’s group, which produced eight shutouts and never allowed more than 19 points all season.  “I feel like it’s a little different because we’re coming off of a big year,” Butler said. “We were the No. 1 team in the state, undefeated state champions, so that’s a huge target on our backs. Everybody wants to play Douglass.”  It’s that attention that could trip up the Eagles over the next few months. They start the season with games at Wise and Riverdale Baptist, so any hangover will be apparent early.  Pinckney, though, tries to keep all the success relative to what he believes to be true about these players. He never thought an overwhelming amount of talent is why Douglass spent last fall rolling through its competition. “As good as that team was,” Pinckney said, “those guys were a lot of Division-II and Division-III kids that play hard, don’t have an ego and do their thing. That’s what we actually deal better with. Those are typically your better teams. You got a bunch of D-1 kids, you got a bunch of egos.”  Wise hopes new turf brings another title run  Ten things to watch in Maryland, D.C. football  Mark Giannotto is a Montgomery County native who covers high school sports for The Washington Post. He previously covered Virginia and Virginia Tech football for five years.
CAMP COUNTDOWN | The Eagles have their sights set on another dominant campaign after an historic state title run in 2014, but must navigate the challenges of being defending champions.