No. 3 DeMatha Football Loses Opener to Top-Ranked Spalding, 26-10

SEVERN, MD. - No.3 DeMatha’s 26-10 loss to No. 1 Spalding showed that it was not a very good football team Saturday night at Whittles Field.

How the Stags respond will be more telling.

“We’ve got a really tough season coming up, and we’ve got a long way to go. One game doesn’t define us,” DeMatha coach Bill McGregor said. “We’ve been here before and got it turned around, but we’ve got to get it turned around quickly.”

The Stags (0-1) took a 10-7 lead midway through the third quarter and then did little right. The Cavaliers (2-0) responded with an 80-yard drive capped by junior Antonio Ledbetter’s six-yard touchdown run.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, DeMatha set up to punt out of its end zone when the snap sailed over senior Alex Amaya’s head for a safety.

Spalding made it 24-10 when senior quarterback Malik Washington rolled left before throwing a 2-yard shovel pass to sophomore Myles McAfee. Washington, a University of Maryland recruit, then found freshman Kam Miller for the two-point conversion.

On the Stags’ ensuing possession, senior quarterback Denzel Gardner was sacked in the end zone for another safety.

Since the beginning of the 2021 season, the Cavaliers are 33-4 and have won the past two Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championships.

It had been five years since DeMatha lost a game by double digits.

McGregor said he was disappointed “with the entire team. It started with me. I don’t think I had the guys prepared; I don’t think I had our coaches prepared.

“We just were not a good football team tonight. We did not execute offensively; we did not execute defensively; we did not execute on special teams. We’ve got to get a lot better.”

Gardner played well, going 10 of 15 for 154 yards. On the Stags’ scoring drive, he completed a 17-yard pass to senior Jermaine Minnis and a 45-yarder to junior Lavar Keys. Gardner, a four-year starter who has committed to Marshall, scored from the 1.

His counterpart, Washington, displayed why he was heavily recruited by Division I schools. He finished 16 of 29 for 133 yards with one TD and an interception by senior Jacob Wallace. He added a 22-yard scoring run late in the first quarter.

Ledbetter carried the ball 24 times for 147 yards and one TD.

“The defensive line needs a lot of work; the offensive line needs a lot of work,” McGregor said. “I’ve never seen anybody run the football like they did against us. They just ran inside zone to death, and when they wanted to run the quarterback he was going hands free.

“It was bad; it just was not a really good effort.”

Next game

DeMatha will play Mt. Zion Prep (0-2) on Sunday, 2 p.m. at The St. James in Springfield, Va.

“We have a chance to get back on the field and see where we are and see who we go with,” McGregor said. “We’ll get better. We only have one way to go. We can’t be any worse than we were.”

Stags in the NFL

Nine former Stags made NFL teams last week: Rodney McLeod (Browns), Ja'Whaun Bentley (Patriots), Nick Cross (Colts), Chase Young (Saints), D.J. Turner (Raiders), MarShawn Lloyd (Packers), Olu Oluwatimi (Seahawks), DeMarcco Hellams (Falcons) and Josh Wallace (Rams).

Chris McManes (mick-maynz) is DeMatha Catholic High School’s communications manager.