Germantown football standout invited to play in high-school showcase game

Will Parks, the standout cornerback and wide receiver on the Germantown High School Bears football team, will play one more game after the annual Thanksgiving showdown with MLK High and before he heads off to the University of Pittsburgh next year.

Parks accepted an invitation to play in The Chesapeake Bowl, a Dec. 30 game pitting football stars from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware against peers from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The game is sponsored by the Mid Atlantic Football Foundation, which selects players known to excel in the sport or those who attend a tryout camp.

“There’s too much talent in this region, so we want to give the opportunity to showcase players” who do not play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl which picks players from across the country, said John Wallpher, president of Mid Atlantic Football Foundation. “Will is a great athlete. He caught our committees’ eye and we had to have him play in our game.”

Among the other local players listed on the “North” team roster are Sharif Smith (RB, Furness), Bruce Mapp (WR, West Catholic), Tristin Freeman (LB, West Catholic) and T.J. Waters (LB, West Catholic). The players will head to the University of Maryland on Dec. 27 to practice up until the Dec. 30 game, a location for which has not been finalized as the Maryland field will start undergoing renovations.

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Parks said he was honored by the selection.

“It’s a great feeling. You know people are talking about you, that you’re being watched. There have been some great players who played in The Chesapeake Bowl,” he said. “I’m blessed.”

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