Since giving up 17 points in a season-opening loss to Gonzaga, the No. 4 McDonogh football team has clamped down on defense allowed just 14 points in its last three games.
No. 9 Archbishop Spalding managed only seven against the Eagles on Friday night, which wasn’t nearly enough as the visiting Eagles went home with a 20-7 victory in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference game.
In their first A Conference season after winning back-to-back B Conference titles, the Cavaliers rallied to beat Mount St. Joseph last week, but they spotted McDonogh too many points Friday — 20, including two touchdowns set up by turnovers — in the first three quarters.
Maryland-bound lineman Roman Braglio, got the Eagles (3-1, 1-0) rolling in a game that started as a defensive struggle and remained 0-0 until the final five seconds of the first half.
With the clock ticking down and the Cavaliers moving the ball well behind big runs from DJ Smith and Steve Manders to get inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line, the Cavaliers fumbled a snap. The ball bounced around, and Braglio recovered it and ran 75 yards for a touchdown.
It was only the second touchdown of Braglio’s career. His first came three weeks ago when he returned an interception for a score in the 17-14 loss to Gonzaga.
“Every practice, I kind to mess around and pick up a loose ball and run it,” the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Braglio said, “and when I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh man, here’s my chance.’ I picked it up and I ran for my life. I ran as fast as I could.”
Spalding coach Mike Whittles said that when the Eagles blitzed, the center kicked the ball, and that’s why it was too high for quarterback Brian Louck to handle, but Whittles conceded that McDonogh’s ability to maintain momentum early in the second half with another touchdown hurt just as much.
McDonogh took advantage of Ryan Cochran’s shanked punt, which set the Eagles up on the 50-yard line. On the second play of the drive, quarterback Joel Jorgensen connected with Jabari Weems for a 47-yard touchdown. The Eagles led 14-0 less than three minutes into the half.
“Two big plays,” Whittles said of the Eagles’ touchdowns. “At halftime I felt like we were winning the battle but not the war. I felt like we were outplaying them on both sides of the ball. I felt like our offensive line did a good job. We moved the football.”
But the mistakes were too much to overcome. The Eagles added to their scoring after a Weems interception set up Jorgensen’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Miles Crump for a 20-0 Eagles lead with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
The Cavaliers (3-1, 1-1) finally scored just over a minute into the fourth quarter on Robert Washington’s 4-yard sprint. Kevin Weiman’s extra point pulled the Cavaliers within 20-7, but the Eagles’ defense held them off the rest of the way in the first meeting between the teams in at least 10 years.
“We’re excited about how we’re playing right now,” McDonogh coach Dom Damico said. “We actually had Gonzaga beat. Their last touchdown was with 38 seconds to go. We’re one play away from being 4-0. The Gonzaga kids played hard, taking no credit away from them, but if we tackle on the play with 38 seconds to go, we win that game too and only give up seven points.”
Smith led the Cavaliers with 151 yards on 22 carries, while Colby Everett was the leading rusher for McDonogh with 88 yards on 18 carries.
The Cavaliers defense held off the Eagles early with a big defensive stand late in the first quarter, stopping Everett on three straight runs from within Spalding’s 5-yard line. On third-and-goal from the 1, Manders forced a fumble that the Cavaliers recovered on their 2-yard line.
Friday night’s game also raised funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, in honor of Whittles, who is coaching while battling stage four pancreatic cancer. Among the fundraising efforts were the sale of T-shirts with “Make Every Day Count” over a purple ribbon on the back.
katherine.dunn@baltsun.com
No. 4 McDonogh 20, No. 9 Spalding 7
M 0 7 13 0 -- 20
S 0 0 0 7 -- 7
M—Braglio 75 fumble ret., Glaser kick
M—Weems 21 pass from Jl.Jorgensen, Glaser kick
M—Crump 18 pass from Jl. Jorgensen, kick failed
S—Washington 4 run, Weiman kick