After the Whistle: Cambridge-SD’s Sterling Perkins
CAMBRIDGE, Md. – For Cambridge-South Dorchester running back Sterling Perkins, the formula for success is self-evident.
“You just got to keep grinding, keep grinding. It’s consistency, you gotta stay consistent. Then you’re going to see the results.”
Perkins’ grind began in middle school, playing as a lineman, but knowing that he ultimately needed the ball in his hands. “I wanted that ball. So that’s when I hit the weight room, got my skill up.” Perkins said the fruit of his effort showed itself before he got to high school, “I started getting the ball my eighth-grade year. So that’s when it really started picking up.”
And as a young athlete in the Viking’s football program, Perkins trusted the process, learning from the veterans on the team. “My freshman year, you know, it was the older guys ahead of me, I paid attention to my older guys. Then I just picked up on it and it started getting easier, just how to read the holes, how to gather the ball properly and just stay in front of your blockers,” Perkins said of his early development.
Perkins rushed for over 1000 yards his junior year–a feat he noted he’d like to repeat– in a 2024 season that culminated in a state quarterfinal appearance for Cambridge.
On the basketball court in the 2024-25 season, Perkins continued to learn about winning; playing a pivotal role in a run to a 1A State Championship for the Vikings basketball team: “That was a blessing. You know, all our games in the playoffs was close games…And I hit the game-winning layup in the state championship, so it was a great feeling.”
As he begins his senior season, Perkins knows that it’s consistency that will get him the results he’s after. “I’m just trying to make it to the next level. I just know what I gotta do, and what I gotta do to get there.”
He said the important of this, his senior campaign, is not lost on him, “This is my last year, you know? So I just gotta go hard because I won’t get this chance–this opportunity–back.”
Perkins and the Vikings open their season playing host to Kent Island on Friday, September 5th.
