Good Counsel football outlasts DeMatha in OT
OLNEY, MARYLAND - The highly anticipated football match-up between DeMatha and Our Lady of Good Counsel didn’t disappoint Friday night. The host Falcons outlasted the Stags, 35-28, in an overtime thriller fitting of the top two teams in Maryland.
Senior running back Dilin Jones’ 2-yard touchdown run and Drew Wolven’s extra-point kick on the first possession of overtime was the difference for Good Counsel (6-1), the top-ranked team in the Maryland Media State rankings. The Falcons scored the final 15 points, including a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 26 seconds remaining in regulation, to take a step towards the top-seed in next month’s Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoffs.
“We’ve been talking all season about getting better and they did that tonight. They didn’t give up,” said Good Counsel coach Andy Stefanelli, whose team is 2-0 in the WCAC Capital Division. “DeMatha made some great plays and we knew that was going to happen…they’re a great team too.”
The Stags (6-1, 1-1 WCAC Capital) got touchdowns runs from Bud Coombs and sophomore Elijah Lee, and two scoring passes from Denzel Gardner.
Here’s some takeaways from Friday’s classic battle:
Frankie Weaver gets it done…again
Frankie Weaver isn’t listed among Maryland’s top prospects in the Class of 2024. But on a Good Counsel team laden with Power 5 recruits, Weaver is hands down its most important player.
The 6-foot-4 senior quarterback engineered Good Counsel’s game-tying drive, dropping a perfect throw into the hands of Damairan Fowlkes in the corner of the end zone. Weaver, rolling to his right, hit Coby Gillis for the tying 2-point conversion.
Good Counsel quarterback Frankie Weaver eludes diving DeMatha defensive linemen Emmett Laws during Friday night's football battle between Maryland's top two squads. The No. 1 Falcons defeated the second-ranked Stags, 35-28, in overtime.
Photo by Troy Queen
“It was ‘go get it done,’” said Weaver, who committed to Monmouth University. “We had a lot of winning drives playing 7-on-7 in the summer so we knew we could do it. It was about trusting ourselves.”
After DeMatha converted a double-pass into a touchdown early in the third quarter, Weaver answered for the Falcons on the next play from scrimmage, hitting Fowkles in stride for an 80-yard touchdown. Good Counsel didn’t do much offensively after the score as Weaver fell on a couple of loose balls.
The Falcons’ last possession of regulation, starting with 1:32 left, didn’t start well for Weaver with two incompletions, but a roughing the passer penalty on 3rd down kept the drive intact. Weaver found Gillis for 10 yards, putting Good Counsel near midfield.
After a big run from Jones, Weaver connected with Fowlkes for the touchdown, putting Good Counsel within 28-26. Weaver was only 8-of-16 for 157 yards Friday.
But when the Falcons needed it late, the four-year starter answered the proverbial bell.
“He’s the most accurate passer I’ve ever coached,” said Stefanelli. “That’s the number one trait - accuracy….he’s super accurate.”
Game of Sevens for Dilin Jones and Bud Coombs
Jones, a Wisconsin commit and arguably the state’s top running back, had the hype entering Friday’s showdown. But DeMatha’s Coombs, who like Jones, boasts No. 7 on his uniform, nearly stole the show.
DeMatha running back Bud Coombs heads downfield for a key 16-yard run on 4th down in the fourth quarter of Friday's WCAC matchup with Good Counsel. The junior finished with 134 yards and a touchdown for the Stags, who suffered their first loss in a 35-28 overtime decision.
Photo by Troy Queen
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound junior powered for 134 yards on 25 carries, including a 16-yard run on 4th down where he reversed fields. Coombs scored his only touchdown, a 5-yard run, on the next play, helping put DeMatha up, 28-20, late in regulation.
Jones, who finished with 116 yards on 22 carries, had a 24-yard run on Good Counsel’s final touch of regulation, putting the ball in DeMatha’s territory. The next play, Weaver connected with Fowlkes for the touchdown.
Good Counsel running back Dilin Jones flexes after scoring a touchdown in overtime on Friday. The University of Wisconsin commit's score was the difference as the Falcons outlasted DeMatha, 35-28, in a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference game in Olney, Maryland.
Photo by Troy Queen
Jones, set up by junior Joe Williams’ 23-yard run to start overtime, finished the drive from two yards, for what would be the winning score.
Coombs, who had 86 yards in the second half and overtime, holds more than a dozen offers including Wisconsin, Maryland, Penn State and Mississippi.
Stags stunned
Just 92 seconds kept DeMatha from remaining undefeated and claiming Maryland’s No. 1 ranking Friday evening. The Stags controlled Good Counsel for most of the second half, but the totality of mistakes and penalties proved too much.
DeMatha finished with 365 yards (269 rushing) on offense. After an 80-yard touchdown pass on Good Counsel’s first play of the second half, the Stags’ defense held the Falcons to minus-5 yards over the next three possessions.
Then, came the Falcons’ final possession of regulation. On 3rd-and-10, DeMatha was flagged for roughing the passer, wiping out an interception. Four plays later, Good Counsel scored to make it 28-26 with 26 seconds and converted the ensuing 2-point conversion to force overtime.
DeMatha quarterback Denzel Gardner (4) tries to get through a hole as Good Counsel's Aaron Chiles closes in for a tackle. The Stags led for nearly the entire second half Friday evening before Good Counsel got a touchdown and tying 2-point conversion in the final seconds of regulation. The Falcons won in overtime.
Photo by Troy Queen
After the Falcons scored on their first overtime possession, DeMatha got inside the 5, but on 3rd down, Coombs was dropped by Good Counsel defensive end and Clemson commit Darien Mayo for a loss.
On 4th down, Gardner, harassed by junior safety Faheem Delane, sent a pass into the end zone and Indiana commit Judah Jenkins intercepted the ball to end it.
The Stags had three interceptions - two by Good Counsel senior Colin Douglas - and six penalties for 65 yards, including the 15-yard roughing the passer infraction that gave Good Counsel a first down in its game-tying scoring drive late in regulation.
“We got too comfortable once the score was 28-20. We let the foot off the gas,” said DeMatha defensive linemen Emmett Laws, a Virginia Tech commit. “We should’ve kept pushing and finished it to the end.”
“We got to finish,” said DeMatha coach Bill McGregor. “We had the opportunity and didn’t do it.”
Bill McGregor on mend
McGregor coached Friday from a mobility scooter on the track behind the Stags’ bench. The legendary DeMatha headman was injured in an accident last week, leaving with him a fractured pelvis and rib.
DeMatha football coach Bill McGregor leaves the field in a mobility scooter after talking to his team Friday evening. The longtime Stags coach will spend the rest of the season coaching in the scooter after suffering a fracture rib and pelvis in an accident last week.
Photo by Troy Queen
McGregor said he will be coaching from the scooter the remainder of the season while he recovers.
“It’s miserable. I have the headphones on and doing the best I can,” said McGregor, who has won more than 300 games over two stints at the Prince George’s County private school. “I’m a sideline guy.”
Photo by Troy Queen
Photo by Troy Queen
Photo by Derek Toney
Photo by Derek Toney
