Coaches Aid - Top Dogs! Gilman wins MIAA A Conference title with victory over McDonogh

Top Dogs! Gilman wins MIAA A Conference title with victory over McDonogh

By: Jon Gallo • 11/7/2009 12:00:00 AM

2009, maryland, gilman, mcdonogh, football, title game, miaa a, jon gallo

Gilman claimed its ninth MIAA A Conference title with a 34-27 win over McDonogh. (Photos by Jon Gallo)

By JON GALLO

Coaches Aid.com Maryland Content Coordinator

As soon as the final whistle sounded, the Greyhounds were unleashed from their sideline, and joined their fans who had stormed McDonogh’s field to revel in winning yet another Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title.

No. 11 McDonogh and Gilman put on a quite a show for a capacity crowd of more than 5,000 who packed the stands and the area surrounding the fence bordering the field. But the end of the game was really nothing new, as Gilman continued its dominance of the league with a 34-27 victory.

“Our theme all year has been “All In,” said Gilman defensive lineman Anthony Ferguson. “We knew if we wanted to be champions, we needed to stick together, and that’s what we did. We wanted to continue the great tradition of football at Gilman.”

Gilman's Jim Poggi and Darius Jennings (back turned) embrace after a 34-27 win over McDonogh.

In fact, Gilman’s senior class winning the MIAA A Conference title has become about as predictable as a tree’s leaves changing color come fall. Since the league’s inception in 1995, Gilman has won nine titles – at least three more than the next closest team. Loyola has won six, including the past three straight before being dethroned this year.

But the Greyhounds’ titles have all come since 1998, so in the past dozen years, the Greyhounds have finished ahead of the pack 75 percent of the time – and seven times they’ve won it outright.

Consider: Since 1996, any Gilman football player who has suited up for the Greyhounds’ varsity team for three consecutive seasons has won at least one MIAA A Conference title.

“We talk about it all the time: You can’t just walk out there with the “G” on the helmet and expect to win,” Gilman linebacker Jim Poggi said. “It doesn’t work that way. We worked for this all season. Playing here at Gilman is not a right – it’s a privilege.”

But what makes this year’s title different from its predecessors is the manner in which it was earned. Gilman (7-3, 4-1 league) wasn’t the MIAA A Conference’s best team all season, just when it needed to be. The Greyhounds suffered three losses – to top-ranked DeMatha, then-No. 2 Good Counsel and unranked Calvert Hall – by a combined score of 126-84.

Gilman and Jim Poggi are No. 1 in the MIAA A Conference.

Gilman, however, didn’t fold. The Greyhounds showed their resilience by outscoring the rest of the MIAA- Loyola, Georgetown Prep, Mount St. Joseph and McDonogh – by a combined score of 167-48 to turn what could have been a disappointing season into a very memorable one.

“We showed a lot of resiliency and to play here you have to play big boy football because not everything is always going to go your way,” Poggi said. “You have to be tough and play as a team – and this is the greatest team I’ve ever played on in my life.”

But as satisfying as the victory was for Gilman, which ended its season winning five of six, the loss was as devastating for McDonogh (8-2, 4-1), failed to win its first league title outright. McDonogh had come so far in a season in which very few – if any – expected the Eagles to soar to the top of the conference. Yet here they were, in their own backyard, playing for their first league title since sharing the crown with Loyola and Gilman in 2006.

“I told my kids to just keep their heads high because they fought hard just like they did all season,” said McDonogh coach Dom Damico. “The game came right down to the end. There were two great teams out there, and high school football is all about playing hard as a team and believing in each other. Our kids believed in each other all season.”

The Eagles had won their past five games since suffering their lone loss of the season – a 23-21 setback to Woodberry Forest (Va.) – and they’d been so dominant during their winning streak. The Eagles had outscored its four league opponents by a combined score of 91-34, which included shutouts of defending champion Loyola and Calvert Hall.

Gilman's fans made their presence felt throughout Saturday's game.

But in the end, it came down to Gilman junior quarterback Darius Jennings playing better than his superstar counterpart, McDonogh’s Rudy Johnson, who played safety on the Eagles’ title team in 2006.

Jennings showed why he entered the game ranked first in the state in rushing yards (1,766) and tied for third in touchdowns (22), as he rushed for more than 200 yards and scored three times.. And with the game tied at 27 midway through the fourth quarter, Jennings drove his team for the winning score, which was recorded on Dexter Davis’ one-yard run with seven minutes, two seconds left.

Meantime, Johnson, who had been tremendous this season, including when he saved McDonogh’s season by rallying his team to victory from a 19-point deficit with fewer than five minutes left against Georgetown Prep, could provide another amazing comeback.

It took every Greyhound working together to win the MIAA A Conference title.

McDonogh rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to tie the game at 27 when Johnson threw a 51-yard scoring pass to Sam Eby with 3:36 left in the third quarter. Johnson threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another score against the Greyhounds.

But McDonogh couldn’t get the equalizing score, as the Eagles turned the ball over on downs inside the Gilman 10-yard line in the final minutes before Gilman secured the victory by intercepting a pass in the final seconds.

“It was just a great team effort,” Jennings said. “It showed how strong of a team we are.”

GILMAN 34, No. 11 MCDONOGH 27

Scoring Summary

Gilman 21 6 0 7 - 34

McDonogh 7 6 14 0 - 27

First Quarter

M: Gabe Macis 42 pass from Rudy Johnson (Sam Eby kick)

G: Jennings 8 run (Mimmo Cricchio kick)

G: Cyrus Jones 8 run (Cricchio kick)

G: Jennings 44 run (Cricchio kick)

Second Quarter

M: Neill Kennedy 40 pass from Johnson (kick blocked)