Washington County football Week 3: Saints overwhelm Williamsport; South rallies past Smithsburg; North wins

Saint James 43, Williamsport 13

The Saints proved why special teams play is so special.

Saint James made three impact plays on kickoffs to get early momentum and then relied on a heavy-hitting, aggressive defense to overwhelm Williamsport.

Jack Ashby-Jacobs set the stage by returning the opening kickoff 60 yards to set up a Joshua Seaforth-Farquharson 6-yard TD run at 9:43 in the first quarter to give the Saints a 7-0 lead. They never looked back, although Williamsport challenged them before the half.

Seaforth-Farquharson scored three touchdowns — one rushing, one receiving and one on a kick return — to lead Saint James (2-1). Quarterback Rhys Staley had his best game of the season, throwing for three TDs and running for a fourth.

Saint James’ defense shut out the Wildcats (2-1) as both Williamsport TDs were scored off Saints turnovers.

The Saints led 13-0 at the end of one quarter after Trevor Owens made diving grab of Staley’s first TD pass — 18 yards — at the 3:32 mark.

Saint James jumped out to a 20-0 lead as Staley hit Ezra Burdette for a short pass down the middle for a 55-yard TD with 6:12 left in the half.

Williamsport surged back as Ceonta Wilmore returned an interception 53 yards for one score with 3:00 to go before intermission. Jake Noll recovered a Saints errant snap in the end zone 49 seconds later to move the Wildcats to within 20-13.

But Seaforth-Farquharson returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for touchdown to give the Saints a 27-13 halftime lead.

Saint James closed the scoring in the third quarter on Staley’s 24-yard TD run, a 29-yard field goal by Ashby-Jacobs and a 35-yard Staley-to-Seaforth-Farquharson swing pass. The final score came on the first play after Ethan White recovered a short, squibbed kickoff.

South Hagerstown 32, Smithsburg 20

The Rebels (1-2) scored the final 20 points, erasing an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to rally past the Leopards (1-2) at School Stadium and get their first win of the season.

Lance Ford completed a perfectly-thrown 39-yard pass up the left sideline, then ran 10 yards to the right front corner of the end zone for a touchdown that brought South within 20-18 with 7:26 left in the game, though the conversion was stopped by Smithsburg.

Johnathan Tano then recovered a Leopards fumble at midfield. Ford completed a 25-yard pass over the middle to Lewis Berry down to the Smithsburg 11, and Andre Cooper took it to the house from there with a run up the gut for a touchdown. Ford just barely got in on the conversion run, giving South a 26-20 lead with 4:29 left.

The Leopards drove near midfield, but Ashton Redman — who scored on TD runs of 4 and 49 yards earlier in the half — was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 pitch right at the Smithsburg 49.

On third-and-1 from the Leopards 40, Ford ran over left tackle, found a small crease, broke through the line and sprinted to the end zone for a 32-20 lead with just under 2 minutes left.

Smithsburg's final drive ended with an interception.

Cameron Rejonis kicked field goals of 33 and 36 yards in the first 15 minutes of the game to give Smithsburg a 6-0 lead. The first, with 4:04 left in the first quarter, was set up by Redman's first-down run on fourth-and-3. The second, with 9:33 left in the first half, came after a long pass play from Zac Smith to Braxton Byrd.

The Rebels converted a third-and-24 on a pass from Ford to Teriq Morris, and Morris capped that drive with a 1-yard TD catch to tie the game at 6 with 4:37 left in the first half.

Smithsburg drove to the South 3 in the closing seconds of the half, aided by Redman's 31-yard run. The Leopards elected to run another play rather than try a field goal, and got stopped as the clock ran out.

Morris turned a short pass in the left flat into a 31-yard touchdown that gave the Rebels a 12-6 lead. Ford was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt.

Redman's 4-yard score gave Smithsburg a 13-12 lead with 6:44 left in the third quarter. Redman added his 49-yard score, breaking loose up the right side, with 8:20 left in the fourth quarter for the 20-12 advantage.

North Hagerstown 26, Tuscarora 15

Van Spence's 67-yard punt-return TD gave the Hubs (2-1) a 20-9 lead late in the second quarter, and North defeated the Titans (0-3) on the road.

Zach Moore ran for a 1-yard score and a conversion to give the Hubs an 8-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Tuscarora took a 9-8 lead on a 14-yard scoring pass from Jack Urschel to Graeden Kish with 7:49 left in the second quarter. North answered with a pair of TDs before the break — a 1-yard keeper by quarterback Luke Kercheval and then Spence's big return. Aiden Clark closed the half with an interception to halt a Titans drive.

Kercheval's 22-yard TD pass to Ryder Johnston gave the Hubs a 26-9 lead with 9:50 left in the fourth quarter.

Kercheval 10 of 15 passing for 137 yards, Moore ran for 102 yards on 24 carries and Johnston had seven catches for 97 yards.

Louie Lee led the North defense with 12 tackles, two fumble recoveries and a sack.

Brunswick 27, Boonsboro 7

Ethan Houck threw a pair of touchdown passes to complement Brunswick’s methodical ground attack as the Railroaders (2-1) handed the visiting Warriors (2-1) their first loss of the season.

After a scoreless first quarter, Brunswick went up 7-0 on the first play of the second on a 4-yard touchdown run by Brice Bell.

The Railroaders extended their lead to 14-0 on a 36-yard scoring strike from Houck to DePriest Daniels with 1:21 left in the first half.

Boonsboro answered less than a minute later as a 12-yard TD run by Chad Wyand made it a 14-7 game at halftime. The scoring effort was set up by two big plays by Wyatt Jervis, who caught a 30-yard pass from Matt Summers and then ran for another first down.

Ben Wells, who led Brunswick on the ground, scored on a 20-yard run to increase his team’s advantage to 21-7 with 7:26 left in the third quarter.

The Warriors had chances to get back in the game in the fourth, but Summers twice was picked off deep in Railroaders territory.

Brunswick capped the scoring on a 14-yard TD pass from Houck to Ethan Genos with 1:46 remaining in the contest.

Berlin Brothersvalley 41, Clear Spring 0

The Blazers (0-3) were shut out on the road against the undefeated Mountaineers (4-0).

Trinity Christian 66, Hancock 14

The Panthers (0-3) scored their first two touchdowns of the season in a road loss to the Warriors (3-1).

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This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland high school football scores: Week 3 live updates