By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
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This was supposed to be Good Counsel’s year to finally break through and win the WCAC football championship.
DeMatha had graduated 32 seniors from last year’s team, the Falcons had a handful of star Division I prospects and had beaten the Stags handily during the regular season.
But DeMatha senior running back Aaron Conaway still couldn’t understand how DeMatha could be considered the underdog.
“It’s really never their year,†Conaway said. “It’s always DeMatha’s.â€
Once again, for a program record sixth straight season, it was DeMatha’s year. The Stags not only beat Good Counsel for the fifth straight time in the championship game, they poured it on this year, winning 34-7 Saturday night at the Navy Marine-Corps Stadium in Annapolis before a crowd of 6,000.
“We got embarrassed in the regular season and we just came out here today and had a little fire to us,†senior quarterback Tommy Chroniger said. “We’re not going away. That’s basically what this means. We’re going to be around for years and years to come.â€
DeMatha’s defense should get the majority of the credit this time around.
Behind a three down linemen and five linebackers formation, a deviation from the Stags’ typical 4-3, DeMatha (12-2) held Good Counsel’s Caleb Porzel to just 59 yards rushing on 15 carries and two catches, each for negative yardage. Jelani Jenkins only rushed five times for 17 yards and caught two passes for 34 yards.
Compare that to the Oct. 2 regular-season meeting, in which Porzel ran for three touchdowns in the first quarter alone and Jenkins ran for two touchdowns of his own in a 42-21 Falcons win on ESPN2, and it explains the drastic change in the outcome.
“We thought we were going to do it,†Porzel said. “I just don’t have words right now. It’s a rough feeling that I have right now that we didn’t come out with the W. Every play they were shooting the gaps and I think that’s what got us.â€
Good Counsel (11-1) had its chances to open up the game early on, which could have been hugely significant considering the last four championship meetings were settled by a combined 13 points.
DeMatha fumbled deep in its own zone on its first drive, setting up the Falcons on the 30 yard line. Good Counsel worked its way to first-and-goal at the 1 after Jenkins hurtled a Stag and Porzel gashed DeMatha up the middle for a 15-yard gain. But from there, DeMatha’s defensive line pushed Good Counsel back and a 27-yard field goal attempt clanked off the right goal post.
Set up by a 70 yard pass from Tyler Campbell to E.J. Scott, Good Counsel scored on its second drive just more than a minute into the second quarter on a 12 yard touchdown run by Porzel to take a 7-0 lead.
DeMatha had a three and out on its resulting drive and it appeared as if the Falcons, who hadn’t trailed all season since the first week of the year, were on their way.
But pinned back on their own 5 yard line, DeMatha defensive back Austin Coley forced a fumble that squirted into the end zone. Porzel pounced on it, but the result was still a safety.
“It was a shocker,†Jenkins said of the safety. “They got the momentum after that.â€
Given a short field to work with after the punt, DeMatha marched quickly into the end zone behind two Chroniger passes for 39 yards and a run on fourth-and-1. Marcus Coker capped off the drive with a 6-yard touchdown to give the Stags an 8-7 lead at halftime.
Good Counsel got the ball to start the second half but Campbell’s second pass was intercepted by Emmanual McPhearson, who took it 22 yards for a touchdown just 46 seconds into the half. DeMatha’s sideline sniffed out a screen and relayed that McPhearson, who jumped the route.
“It drained them; it’s all we needed,†McPhearson said. “I knew once we got the momentum, we were there.â€
Good Counsel tried to pull out some trickery on its next drive as Porzel took a handoff on first down from the Falcons’ 32 and opted to throw it. His fluttering pass was intercepted by Jeff Knox and DeMatha needed just four plays to score again, this time on a 25-yard run by Conaway to take a 21-7 lead 4:25 into the half.
The Stags poured it on with short-yardage fourth quarter touchdown runs by Coker and Conaway, who each ran for two scores on the night. Conaway had 11 rushes, all in the second half, for 101 yards.
“I was on the sideline for a minute and it really hit me that this was my last game and I had to contribute to history so I ran the ball as hard as I could,†Conaway said.
After the game, DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor huddled his team and pointed to alumni standing around the players, saying this sixth consecutive title wouldn’t be real had it not been for them.
But this championship may be the most unexpected and hard-earned of them all considering that DeMatha lost 28 seniors from last year’s team and sat at 3-2 on the season following the crushing regular season loss to Good Counsel.
“This was the finest effort I have ever seen,†McGregor yelled to his players in the huddle. “It’s a sweet one; it really is.â€
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