Football: McDonogh routs Landon

McDonogh coach Dom Damico considers the second half of his schedule daunting.

The Eagles face five consecutive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference opponents: Loyola Blakefield, Mount St. Joseph, Georgetown Prep, Calvert Hall and Gilman.

The span starts Friday with visiting Loyola at 3:15 p.m.

"This is murderer's row for five games," Damico said. "We have to stay healthy and get fundamentally better each week."

McDonogh heads into the stretch with some momentum. The Eagles have won three straight, including thumping previous unbeaten Landon, of Bethesda, 35-3, Saturday.

Colby Everett led McDonogh's offense with 130 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns. Syl Brown rushed for a touchdown and 54 yards on 11 carries. Justin Hawkins contributed 38 yards on six attempts.

"We played physical up front and ran the ball inside the tackle box," Damico said.

Quarterbacks Joel Jorgensen (passing) and Duke Etchison (rushing) also accounted for touchdowns.

The Eagles (3-1) started slowly. Deion Wellington picked off Jorgensen on McDonogh's first possession.

After Alexander Mockett booted a 27-yard field goal late in the first quarter, the Eagles responded and got rolling.

McDonogh drove 67 yards on 10 plays. Everett's 6-yard run on the first play of the second quarter gave his team a 6-3 lead.

Damico replaced Jorgensen, a senior and three-year starter, with Etchison, a sophomore, on McDonogh's fourth series after the quarterback went 1-for-5 passing.

Besides the interception, he missed Miles Crump by five yards on his second pass attempt.

"Our quarterback has been off a little bit lately," Damico said of Jorgensen. "So we kind of had to run the ball a little bit more. We put another kid in there just to change it up. When another kid challenges your position, it kind of wakes you up a little bit. We were kind of hoping for that."

Before Jorgensen entered the game in the second half, Etchison made his presence felt. He engineered a 7-play, 53-yard drive he capped with a quarterback sneak up the middle with 7:09 remaining to make it 20-3.

Etchison teamed up with wide receiver Jabari Weems for a 35-yard strike to key the series.

Landon (3-1) threatened to score in the final seconds of the quarter, but Weems, who also plays cornerback, intercepted Charlie Schnider in front of the end zone on the last play of the half.

The rout was on in the second half. Jorgensen found Weems in the corner of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown in the middle of the third quarter and Brown scored from a yard out late in the period.

Everett finished the winners' scoring with a 1-yard plunge in the fourth quarter. Evan Glasser booted five extra points.