OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Six weeks after beating Calvert Hall in their first meeting of the season, McDonogh did it again with much more at stake.
The second-seeded Eagles held off the third-seeded Cardinals 31-28 in double overtime at McDonogh High School, advancing to the MIAA A Conference championship game.
Six weeks earlier, McDonogh defeated Calvert Hall 24-10 early in their conference schedule. That win helped give the Eagles the better conference record and home-field advantage for the playoff matchup.
Calvert Hall was also riding a two-game winning streak and had outscored its opponents 66-3 over that span.
The Cardinals had the game's opening possession, but a low snap forced quarterback Oliver Noll out of the pocket. His deep throw was intercepted along the sideline by Griffin Vaughn, giving McDonogh an early takeaway.
The Eagles couldn't turn the interception into points, but they struck on their next possession. Quarterback Jackson Herbert connected with Rob "Sonny" Moore, who came back for the catch before winning a footrace to the end zone to put McDonogh ahead 7-0.
Calvert Hall's defense came up with a big play in the second quarter to keep the deficit at one score. Matthew Tees was stripped of the ball as McDonogh drove down the field, and Dillon Hardy recovered the fumble for the Cardinals.
The Eagles, however, soon got another opportunity. After forcing a Calvert Hall punt, Herbert lofted a pass into the end zone for CJ Davis, giving McDonogh a 14-0 halftime lead.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, setting up a dramatic finish.
On the second play of the fourth, Noll scored on a short touchdown run to cut McDonogh's lead to 14-7.
Less than two minutes into the quarter, Calvert Hall had erased the entire deficit. A McDonogh snap came before Herbert was ready, and Cardell "Manny" Beck scooped up the loose ball and scored to tie the game at 14.
McDonogh answered.
Herbert found Moore for his second touchdown of the night, putting the Eagles back in front 21-14 with about 6:30 remaining.
After the teams exchanged punts, Calvert Hall got one final possession needing a touchdown. With time nearly gone, Noll connected with Eian Schrader, who got out of bounds with two seconds left.
On the final play of regulation, Noll went back to Schrader on a jump pass. Schrader made the touchdown catch, and the ensuing extra point sent the game to overtime tied at 21.
Both teams would get the chance to posses the ball in overtime and the Cardinals began with the ball first.
Calvert Hall needed only one play to take its first lead. Starting from the 10-yard line, Atlas Gore took a handoff into the end zone to make it 28-21.
McDonogh faced fourth down on its possession, but Herbert delivered, connecting with Davis in the back of the end zone for the tying touchdown.
The Eagles opened the second overtime and settled for a short field goal, taking a 31-28 lead and giving Calvert Hall a chance to win the game with a touchdown.
The Cardinals eventually faced fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Noll kept the ball, but McDonogh's defense stopped him short of the end zone to end the game.
McDonogh head coach Hakeem Sule said the Eagles' emphasis throughout the week was on finishing.
"We needed to finish," Sule said. "We didn't know how this game was going to go. We knew they were coming in hot, they had a couple wins and they scored a lot of points, so we knew that they were going to eventually score and our main objective and the goal all week was to finish and we found a way to finish and we found a way to finish in the end."
Asked when he thought his heart rate would finally slow down, Sule replied, "Maybe Monday" while chuckling.
McDonogh advances to the MIAA A Conference championship game, where the Eagles will face Archbishop Spalding after defeating St. Mary's 28-14.
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