WCAC final: Good Counsel finally overcomes DeMatha, 14-7
By: Kevin Dunleavy
Examiner Staff Writer
November 21, 2009
After five straight losses in WCAC final, Falcons find a way to beat the Stags
ANNAPOLIS – It took nine years of hard work and heartbreak, but Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy finally has won a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship.
Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Milloy and his cursed Falcons exorcised their demons, handing six-time defending champion DeMatha its first loss this season, 14-7. It was the first WCAC title for the Falcons and came after losing to the Stags the last five years in the title game, four of the losses coming by a touchdown or less.
“It’s been nine years climbing up this doggone mountain. We finally got to the top,” said Milloy, after beating his longtime nemesis, DeMatha Bill McGregor. “Eventually we gotta beat ‘em one year, you’d think. But I was starting to wonder to tell you the truth.”
After suffering a career’s worth of bad luck in previous title games, Milloy got his cherished WCAC title to go along with his Maryland-record eight public school championships, which he earned at Springbrook and Sherwood.
“This is the hardest. Beating these guys is no day at the park -- by far the hardest of all,” said Milloy. “Nothing worth anything is easy. They’re just terrifically talented and well-coached. You can’t fool them. It’s a real feather to beat those guys. It’s hard to beat them in a championship game.”
Making it possible was Good Counsel senior wideout Louis Young, recruited to the school to play basketball, who caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Zach Dancel with 10 minutes, 33 seconds left.
“It’s like we won the Super Bowl,” said Young. “We ran the clock out. I kept crying. I’ve been here four years. We lost every time. We got the last laugh. That’s the way to end it senior year.”
Young (4 catches, 49 yards) also played a big role on defense making two interceptions deep in Good Counsel territory in the second half. His first came on the penultimate play of the third period, when he made a leaping grab of a ball that DeMatha argued was trapped. His second interception came with 3:30 left when he leaped high and wrestled the ball from the hands of DeMatha senior Kyrrel Latimer at the 9-yard line.
“I didn’t think they’d give it to me. We both had possession,” said Young. “I ripped it out at the last minute.”
DeMatha (11-1) had one more possession. Senior quarterback Daniel Tapscott fired a 21-yard strike to junior wideout Ryan Burbrink to give the Stags a first down at the Good Counsel 25. But the Falcons forced an incompletion, Young and safety Stefon Diggs stopped receivers at the line of scrimmage, and on fourth down, linebacker Troy Gloster sacked Tapscott to seal DeMatha’s fate with 50 seconds left.
Good Counsel (11-1) played spectacular defense, holding the Stags to 131 yards and standout back Marcus Coker to 42 yards on 20 carries. When the teams met in the regular season, Coker, a senior, rushed for 213 yards, leading DeMatha to a stunning rally from 18 points down in a 24-21 victory.
“I think he had a bad leg (pulled groin). It hurt him. It didn’t hurt us,” said Milloy. “[Our] kids played their hearts out. It was a defensive day today.”
Senior safety Rohan Williamson (3 tackles for a loss) and junior tackle Vincent Croce (8 tackles) were the standouts of a defense that forced DeMatha to go three and out on seven of 12 its possessions.
DeMatha’s lone touchdown came after a Dancel fumble. Senior Jeremiah McPhearson’s recovery at the Good Counsel 13 set up a 9-yard touchdown pass from Tapscott to Latimer that tied it up, 7-7, in the second period.
Dancel lost another fumble in the third period, but the left-hander played well otherwise, completing 10 of 14 passes for 152 yards. His 33-yard pass to sophomore running back Wes Brown and fourth-down completion to tight end Croce were the highlights of Good Counsel’s opening drive, 73 yards to the end zone, Brown (17 carries, 51 yards) scoring on a 3-yard run to put the Falcons up 7-0.
It was a tough loss to take for previously undefeated DeMatha, which was ranked No. 1 in the Maryland.
“It hurts. I never thought this day would come,” said Lattimer. “Since I’ve been here, all our senior (classes) win. My senior year is a loss. It hurts.”
