Good Counsel assistant coach Tom Crowell emerged from the locker room, shook his head and said, “Groundhog Day.”
Crowell was referring to Good Counsel’s 12-7 loss to DeMatha, their fourth in a row to the Stags, in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game.
The feeling was the same for Good Counsel. But this time there were no bad bounces, no game-changing turnovers, no horrendous bad luck that left the Falcons feeling cursed. Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, the story was the DeMatha defense.
Limiting Good Counsel (10-2) to one first down in the second half, DeMatha (10-2) stuffed the potent Falcons, avenging a 28-24 loss two weeks ago in the regular-season finale.
“Our motto was ‘The Hammer,’ this week,” said senior Kenny Tate. “And we laid the hammer to them — head to nail.”
DeMatha limited Good Counsel to four first downs and 135 yards of total offense, 71 of which came on a first-quarter touchdown run by Caleb Porzel (8 carries, 98 yards). In the second half, Good Counsel never crossed its own 35-yard line.
“It was much tougher to run against them than in the first game,” said Porzel. “They just swarmed the ball. Where ever the ball went, they were there.”
In the first half, it was defense that allowed DeMatha to overcome four turnovers and escape with a tie.
“We’re 7-7. We’re in great shape,” said DeMatha coach Bill McGregor, who won his fifth straight conference title and 16th in 26 years. “We felt the second half was going to be ours. It’s the conditioning, the running, all those extra things we do to be ready for the fourth quarter.”
Leading the defense were linebackers Anthony Listorti (3 tackles for a loss) and Raheem Cardwell (2 tackles for a loss), defensive end Nick Rivers (sack), and cornerback Tyler Carter, who had a fourth-quarter interception.
“Last time they really hammered us,” said McGregor. “This week we talked about it. Are we gonna be the hammer? Or are we gonna be the nail?”
Applying the final nail was junior DT Ikechi Nnawuba, who sacked Good Counsel quarterback Tyler Campbell, forcing a fumble that rolled out of the end zone for a safety.
In the first meeting, Campbell was effective. This time, under a heavy rush, the junior completed just 6 of 20 passes for 30 yards.
The DeMatha offense was led by Ashby Christian (31 carries, 115 yards) and Tom Chroniger (12 of 27, 143 yards), who accounted for the Stags’ lone touchdown with a 21-yard completion to Rodney McLeod in the first period.
After the game, the Stags raced to the end zone, climbed steps and defiantly tore down several Good Counsel banners.
“It’s not classy, but they won,” said Porzel. “If you win, you can do that.”
