Something for Kids of All Ages

They began lining up four hours before the biggest game ever held at Good Counsel, and as the gates opened around 4:30 p.m. several students rushed the stands as if they held general-admission tickets to Kanye West or Coldplay.

ESPN2 had come to Olney on this crisp, perfect fall night for football, essentially using a stout, senior linebacker named Jelani Jenkins as a national hook into Greater Washington's most gripping prep rivalry. Good Counsel-DeMatha, to stake a claim on Washington Catholic Athletic Conference supremacy.

Lights. Cameras. Ratings.

"Distractions?" said Good Counsel's Bob Milloy after his Falcons drilled DeMatha, 42-21, "You bet. You're a 15-year-old kid looking around at all this, going, 'Wow.'

"I'm a 65-year-old man and I'm looking around, going, 'Wow.' "

Good Counsel doesn't permit signage or advertising on the field, but it acquiesced to the network, which provided the Old Spice, Nike and Marines.com monikers in each end zone. Nearly 30 members of the media showed for the game, including Dave Feldman from Channel 5 and Tim Brant from Channel 7, who did their live-at-5 thing with both teams' coaches before the game.

Milloy and DeMatha's Bill McGregor have combined for 577 wins and 66 years of head coaching experience. For men who have seen everything, they both agreed this was not your grandfather's high school football experience.

"I haven't seen nothing like it," Milloy said.

Down 28-0, DeMatha looked done early, and then Tom Chroniger let fly a bomb with less than seven minutes before halftime, which was run under by Emmanuel McPhearson for a pretty, 61-yard score to put the Stags on the board before halftime.

They came within two scores at the outset of the second half. But Good Counsel then found its stride again.

McGregor has had the Falcons' number four straight years in the title game, employing a fake punt in the WCAC championship game a year ago. But Milloy turned the tables last night, using the same play in the fourth quarter to siphon momentum from DeMatha for good.

The star of the game -- as good as Jenkins was -- was his teammate and best friend, Caleb Porzel, who was just Usain Bolt-quick. Porzel rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns.