Washington County football: Saints outlast Kiski; Wildcats, Warriors open playoffs with victories

Saturday

Regular season

Saint James 34, Kiski School 33 (2OT)

The Saints were walk-off winners in their season finale, outlasting the visiting Cougars in double overtime.

After the game was tied 27-27 at the end of regulation, both teams failed on field-goal attempts in the first overtime.

Saint James (6-3) got the ball first to start the second overtime with a first-and-goal from the 10. After a penalty, Will Gisriel scored on a 15-yard run, Iliya Dinello’s extra point was good, and the Saints led 34-27, needing a stop to win.

Kiski (3-6) answered as Matt Shea passed to Joe Hess for a 5-yard TD, cutting it to 34-33. The Cougars opted to go for two, and with the game on the line, the Saints stopped the conversion run inches shy of the goal line for the victory.

A couple hours earlier, it appeared Saint James would run away with it.

In the first quarter, quarterback Rhys Staley scored on a 15-yard keeper and then connected with Jack Ashby-Jacobs for a 22-yard TD, giving the Saints a 13-0 lead.

With 9:56 left in the second quarter, they extended it to 20-0 as Staley and Ashby-Jacobs hooked up again for a 6-yard score.

Tyler Oates then picked off a Kiski pass on the ensuing possession.

However, just when the Saints were ready to put the game out of reach, Kiski’s Drew Baublitz turned the tables.

Baublitz intercepted a pass in the end zone, and on the next play, he rushed 80 yards for a touchdown, cutting the Cougars’ deficit to 20-7.

Baublitz then picked off another pass and returned it 50 yards for a score, and just like that, it was 20-14 with 3:14 left in the half.

Fifteen seconds later, a bad snap by Saint James was scooped up by Dayne Wilden and returned 20 yards for another Kiski touchdown, and the game was tied 20-20 at halftime.

With 2:02 left in the third quarter, the Cougars went up 27-20 on a 4-yard TD run by Josh Bartlow.

With 1:37 left in regulation, the Saints tied it at 27 on a 1-yard TD run by Joshua Farquharson-Seaforth.

Class 1A West first round

Allegany 43, Clear Spring 7

Isaiah Fields rushed for 204 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone, and the host and third-seeded Campers (7-3) eliminated the Blazers (2-8) at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

Fields' scores came on runs of 5, 78, 72 and 24 yards as Allegany built a 34-7 halftime lead.

Jacob Salonish ran for a 43-yard TD, Brett Patterson had a 2-yard score and Blake Powell kicked a 24-yard field goal to round out the Campers' scoring.

Clear Spring's touchdown came early in the second quarter on a 64-yard TD pass from Hunter Oaks to Caleb Younker.

Friday

Class 2A-1A West first round

Williamsport 41, Winters Mill 21

Cole Rourke rushed for three touchdowns and the host and third-seeded Wildcats (7-3) returned two fumbles for long touchdowns, using big plays to beat the sixth-seeded Falcons (3-7).

Williamsport will travel to second-seeded Liberty, a 49-6 winner over seventh-seeded Francis Scott Key, next week for the second round.

Rourke's touchdowns covered 37 yards in the first quarter, 65 yards early in the second quarter and 14 yards late in the first half, giving him 116 yards on those three carries alone.

Winters Mill struck first on Ahren Mills' 47-yard punt-return score with 6:57 left in the first quarter, coming after the Falcons pinned Williamsport at its 2-yard line on an earlier punt.

Rourke's first TD came just over a minute later to tie the game at 7. His longest run of the night, for his second score, gave the Wildcats a 13-7 lead with 10:20 left in the half.

Winters Mill's next possession ended with a strip, and Corry Nelson Jr. scooped it up and went 55 yards to the end zone to give the Wildcats a 20-7 lead with 7:59 left in the half.

Jesse Tobias scored on a 13-yard run to pull the Falcons within 20-14 with 5:41 left in the half. Two minutes later, Will Snyder appeared to score on a punt return for Winters Mill, but it was wiped out by offsetting penalties.

Williamsport drove late in the half, with Nelson turning a short pass by Eli Fleming over the middle into a 43-yard gain. The Falcons took a 12-men penalty on fourth-and-1 at their 20 coming out of their own timeout to give the Wildcats a first down, and Rourke burned them with his final score with 1:03 left in the half. Cayden Palamar's conversion run made it 28-14 at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, the Falcons lined up for a 39-yard field goal. A high snap derailed the play and left holder Caleb Crouch scrambling and Ceonta Wilmore forced a fumble, with Gaelin Johnson scooping it and running 70 yards for a score and a 35-14 lead.

Another long gain on a short pass play from Fleming to Nelson down to the 1 set up a 2-yard score by lineman Dylan Parker, making it 41-14 with 9:07 to play.

Winters Mill scored the game's final TD on a 3-yard pass from Crouch to Snyder.

Boonsboro 42, Western Tech 6

The Warriors (7-3) worked hard to head in the right direction. As it turned out, they headed right to take out Western Tech (5-5).

Wyatt Jervis scored twice in a two-minute span of the second quarter on plays to the right to stake Boonsboro to an early lead in a victory over the Wolverines.

The fourth-seeded Warriors will get a rematch with top-seeded South Carroll (8-1) next Friday. The Cavaliers ousted Boonsboro in the second round last season.

Boonsboro worked the ball right for most of the first quarter against Western Tech, the fifth seed, but couldn’t find a crack in the Wolverines’ pursuit.

In the second quarter, Boonsboro ran a pair of plays that found the crack.

The first was a bit of a misdirection, as the Warriors faked a run to the left. Jervis looped back against the grain and busted through the right side for a 44-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 11:01 to go in the half.

The Warriors went to work quickly when they got the ball back. This time, Boonsboro motioned two blockers to the right. Jervis took the ball to the overcrowded side and busted free for a 27-yard score with 9:08 left for a 14-0 lead.

From there, the defense took over, using a collection of sacks, tackles for losses and turnovers to stymie Western Tech.

One of the turnovers came on the ensuing kickoff, as Boonsboro’s coverage knocked the ball loose. Logan Geiser scooped it up for a 15-yard score with 8:52 remaining in the half. The Warriors owned a 21-0 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Jervis converted a fourth-down run in the red zone. Zach Nikirk finished the drive with a 4-yard TD for a 28-0 lead with 1:52 left in the period.

A Boonsboro sack resulted in a fumble recovery by Nate Elliott. Matt Summers found Chance Haga with a 15-yard TD pass with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter for a 35-0 lead.

Western Tech avoided the shutout with 9:05 remaining when Christopher Dancy connected with Mohammed Dubiad for a 40-yard touchdown pass.

Chad Wyand scored on a 58-yard run 27 seconds later to cap the Warriors' 36-point victory.

Class 1A West first round

Northern Garrett 36, Smithsburg 0

The fifth-seeded Leopards (3-7) were shut out on the road by the Huskies (5-5).

Ethan Sebold scored on runs of 7 and 2 yards, Kyle Broadwater returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a TD, Luke Ross rushed for a 33-yard score and Kellen Hinebaugh added a 17-yard TD for Northern, which also scored on a safety.

Thursday

Class 3A West first round

Oakdale 53, North Hagerstown 0

Déjà vu became Déjà eww for the Hubs.

It started with Hunter Thompson’s 88-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff and ended with a resounding thud as Oakdale blanked North.

Thompson’s opening kick return revisited North’s opening kick to South Hagerstown in last week’s season finale. Teriq Morris scampered 90 yards to give the Rebels an early 7-0 lead in the first 19 seconds of the game to start a 28-0 victory for the city championship.

Thompson’s return took only 13 seconds to start the No. 3-seeded Bears (7-3) on their way to surpassing South’s point total just a minute into the second quarter.

Thompson, Rory Blanchard and Shaun Wright scored two touchdowns each in the first half to move the Bears to a 46-0 halftime lead. Blanchard also added a 27-yard field goal.

The Bears scored on a kickoff, punt and interception returns, two rushes and a pass play in the first half.

The No. 6 Hubs mounted two threats to score — one in each half — but failed on fourth-down plays in the red zone.

North played without leading rusher Zach Moore, who was out with an injury and dressed in street clothes. By the end of the first half, the Hubs had only one healthy running back.

After Thompson’s game-opening score, Blanchard added a 22-yard touchdown run at 10:18 of the first quarter on Oakdale’s very first play from scrimmage. The Bears benefitted on a short North punt out of the end zone.

North came close to cutting the deficit in half, driving down to the Oakdale 3. Quarterback Luke Kercheval was stopped for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-goal play.

Blanchard hit the field goal with 1:31 remaining in the quarter before Wright intercepted a tipped Kercheval pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown and a 25-0 lead 17 seconds later.

Thompson returned a punt to open the second quarter, followed by quarterback Evan Austin finding Wright wide open for a 46-yard touchdown pass. Blanchard scored on 24-yard draw play to put the Bears up 46-0 with 6:10 remaining in the half.

Oakdale capped the game with a 22-yard run by DJ Moore with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter as the second half was played with a running clock because North was down by more than 35 points.

The Bears advanced to face second-seeded Frederick next week in the second round. The Cadets defeated South Hagerstown.

Kercheval hit on 18 of 34 passes for 202 yards, but was harassed and sacked throughout the game. Ryder Johnston caught 12 passes for 130 yards, while the Hubs were held to minus-23 yards rushing.

Johnston’s 12 catches rank second for a single game in school history and third all-time in Washington County.

Frederick 41, South Hagerstown 0

Tae Anderson ran for three touchdowns, Brian Mbuthia passed for a pair of scores and the No. 2-seeded Cadets (10-0) rolled to a playoff victory over the No. 7 Rebels.

After a slow start, Frederick went up 7-0 on the final play of the first quarter — an 8-yard touchdown run by Anderson.

The Cadets scored three times in the second quarter for a 28-0 halftime lead. Anderson rushed for a 1-yard TD, Josh Hayward scored on an 11-yard run and Mbuthia connected with Travon Neal for a 9-yard TD.

Frederick added two more touchdowns in the third quarter. Mbuthia passed to Davian Pryor for a 14-yard TD, and Anderson capped the night’s scoring with another 1-yard rush into the end zone.

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This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland high school football playoffs: Live Washington County updates