Facing one of the area’s most dynamic defensive backs in Wake Forest University-bound Rushaun Tongue, Arundel High’s coaching staff settled on a conservative offensive approach to the start of Friday night’s Anne Arundel County football clash with visiting Chesapeake-Anne Arundel.

With about 40 seconds left in the first half, the Wildcats decided to abandon that cautious approach for an aggressive aerial attack that resulted in 20 points, a sterling performance from junior quarterback Gavin Kamachi, and, eventually, a 27-17 victory against the Cougars in a battle for first in Anne Arundel.

The win assured Arundel (7-1 overall, 5-0 Anne Arundel) at least a share of the league championship. No. 9 and defending Anne Arundel champ Broadneck routed Old Mill Friday to remain undefeated in league play (6-0).

“We didn’t want to do anything dumb in the first half,” said Wildcats coach Jack Walsh, whose team close the regular season at home against area top-ranked and national No. 2 St. Frances next Friday evening. “They have a really good, athletic DB. We didn’t want to give them an opportunity to score on defense, so I think we were a little more conseravtive than we needed to be in the first half. The second half, we saw some things we could take advantage of . . . and started dialing it up a bit.”

That strategic change really seemed to have taken place during the close of the first half. The Wildcats, leading 7-3 at the time, found themselves with the ball on their own 38-yard line with 45 seconds remaining having stuffed Chesapeake (6-2, 3-1 Anne Arundel) on fourth down.

Arundel opened the drive with a three-yard loss on a run by Ahmad Taylor. Two plays later, the Wildcats were on the Chesapeake one-yard line with five seconds left on a 15-yard throw from Kamachi to Miles Gilmore and then a 49-yard strike to DeJuan Bowdry.

Taylor, running the aptly named Wildcat formation, was stuffed for a yard loss, but Arundel was able to call timeout with a second remaining on the clock. Kamachi then fired a strike to Gilmore on a quick out pattern to the Chesapeake sideline for a 14-3 halftime lead.

“Scoring right before half is huge because . . . you come back after the half feeling good,” said Kamachi, who completed 21 of 28 passes for 297 yards. “Historically, we’ve been a pass first team (but) we definitely wanted to get the run game going right off the bat. Hitting the passes we did in the first half, we saw they play zone, and zones have holes, and we were going to exploit them anyway we can.”

Conversely, the Cougars used their power rushing attack that largely used a trio of running backs in the backfield with quarterback Aaron Rhodes, to score back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter. Collin Lewis, on inside handoffs, scored on runs of one and five yards out to cap drives of 65 and 58 yards, respectively, to trim the Arundel lead to 20-17 with 4:24 remaining in the quarter.

Each Chesapeake scored, however, was answered by Kamachi, who went virtually untouched in the pocket all game because of his steady offensive line. He used his accurate right arm to guide the Wildcats deep in Cougars territory before giving way to Taylor, who had touchdown runs of a yard and 14 yards in the third quarter to go with his eight-yard scoring run in the first quarter.

Taylor’s first score of the third quarter came after Kamachi hooked up with Chris Downs three times for 63 yards to set up Taylor’s yard dive through the Wildcat formation. With Arundel’s lead down to 20-17, Kamachi completed four passes for 38 yards to set up Taylor’s third touchdown run, a 14-yard scamper on fourth-and-one through the Wildcat formation yet again with 52 seconds left in the quarter.

Taylor set an early tone with the eight-yard score to conclude the Wildcats’ game-opening drive. Chesapeake, looking to answer, drove the ball to the Arundel six-yard line before settling for a field goal attempt.

The attempt never happened as a low snap forced back-up holder Alexander Hayes to scoop up the ball and then attempt an ill-advised pass that was picked off and returned two yards by Nick Oliver. The Cougars, who forced two turnovers in the loss, endured a dropped pass in the end zone in the second quarter, as well, resulting in Larry Hurst’s 25-yard field goal.

“I think that we played very passive, which cost us,” Chesapeake coach Rob Elliott said. “Give credit to Arundel, they played a great game. They outplayed us, and we had too many mistakes, and we didn’t capitalize when we had the opportunities.”

ARUNDEL 27, CHESAPEAKE-ANNE ARUNDEL 17

Chesapeake 0 3 14 0 - 17

Arundel 7 7 13 0 - 27

First quarter

Arundel - Ahmad Taylor 8 run (Camden Neiswender kick)

Second quarter

Chesapeake - Larry Hurst 29 field goal

Arundel - Miles Gilmore 2 pass from Gavion Kamachi (Neiswender kick)

Third quarter

Chesapeake - Collin Lewis 1 run (Hurst kick)

Arundel - Ahmad Taylor 1 run (kick failed)

Chesapeake - Collin Lewis 5 run (Hurst kick)

Arundel - Ahmad Taylor 14 run (Neiswender kick)