Stags shut down Good Counsel, win sixth straight WCAC title, 34-7
Six weeks ago, DeMatha coach Bill McGregor had a simple message for his downtrodden team – smile.
The five-time defending champions of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference were struggling. They had lost to Good Counsel, 42-21, and were coming off a shockingly close call against perennial league doormat Paul VI, 21-13.
But taking their cues from their legendary coach, the Stags looked on the bright side. Saturday night in the WCAC title game, the Stags were wearing the smiles of champions.
With a 34-7 defeat of Good Counsel at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, DeMatha won its sixth straight WCAC crown, beat Good Counsel for the fifth straight time in the title game, and pulled off a stunning reversal of their embarrassing defeat seven weeks ago in Olney.
“It didn’t hurt. It helped,” said senior Emmanuel McPhearson, of the Stags’ nationally-televised loss. “This shows what we could have been doing from the start of the season.”
If only they had known to smile.
“We started practicing smiling. That’s become whole the motto of our football team,” said McGregor. “We did that and we did something called ‘Pass it On,’ from the movie ‘Pay It Forward.’ Somebody would make a good play in practice, we pass on the energy, pass on the play. It was like a snowball going downhill. The ball got bigger and bigger for us.”
It wasn’t just slogans and gimmicks that earned DeMatha (10-2) the title. Using a 3-3-5 defensive alignment for the first time, the Stags confused Good Counsel and stymied its potent backfield duo of Caleb Porzel (15 carries, 57 yards) and Jelani Jenkins (5 carries, 17 yards).
“I don’t think they were ready for it. We didn’t show it at all until this game,” said DeMatha quarterback/safety Tom Chroniger. “It basically shut them down outside. That was really hard for them.”
Down 7-0 in the second period, the DeMatha defense turned the game around with a safety. When the Maryland-bound Porzel caught a swing pass inside his own 5-yard line, Stags junior safety Michael Coley stripped the ball, which bounced into the end zone.
After the ensuing free kick, Chroniger (8 of 16, 111 yards) threw a 23-yard sideline rainbow to Coley on third and 24, then ran for a first down. Three plays later, junior fullback Marcus Coker (13 carries, 62 yards) scored his first of two touchdowns to put DeMatha up for good, 8-7.
The most demoralizing play for Good Counsel (11-1) came on the second snap of the second half. McPhearson read a sideline pass by Tyler Campbell (9 of 17, 123 yards), made his break, and ran off with a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown.
On Good Counsel’s next possession, Porzel threw an ill-advised option pass that fluttered into the hands of DeMatha junior safety Jeff Knox.
Four plays later, on his first carry of the game, DeMatha senior Aaron Conway (9 carries, 86 yards) bolted 25 yards off tackle for his first of two touchdowns to put the Stags up, 21-7.
“They changed up a lot of stuff. They obviously worked really hard for us and were ready for all our plays,” said Jenkins. “We let up a couple of big plays and got the momentum really easily.”
After losing four straight close games to DeMatha in the final, this one was a departure from the usual heartbreaking script.
“We play big in big games. We’re 32-4 in playoff games,” said McGregor. “We just wanted to be the WCAC football champion. It was a long, hard road. Things didn’t look so good after that first game. We were scratching our heads, thinking we’ve just got to go back to the drawing board. I think to a man, we dedicated our season.”
