After falling to arguably the country’s best team on national TV a week ago, No. 10 DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) needed a bounce-back game in a big way.
The Stags got just that, returning home to complete a 28-0 thrashing of Avalon (Gaithersburg, Md.).
A week after suffering a tough 35-23 defeat at the hands of three-time Super 25 champion Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) in the GEICO ESPN High School Kickoff, DeMatha took its time to get rolling. But once it did, the game was all but over by halftime.
Following an early stalemate, DeMatha junior running back Myles Miree scored with a minute to go in the first quarter. After recovering the onside kick, DeMatha (1-1) scored again with 7:55 to go in the second quarter. Then, with 2:55 to go in the half, senior tight end Anthony Toro scored off a pass from junior quarterback Eric Najarian to increase the margin to 21-0.
The damage didn’t stop there before the half. Dominic Logan-Nealy intercepted a pass and took it to the opposing 16 with just more than a minute to go. Sieh Bangura banged in a score and the extra point pushed the advantage to 28-0 before halftime. Reserves saw the bulk of the time after the break.
A year after averaging 37.3 points a game while allowing 13.8, DeMatha showed its stifling self on defense again vs. Avalon (1-1). While conference play doesn’t begin for a few weeks, the team that is going for its fifth straight Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) title put out a good showing in front of its home fans.
DeMatha, which went 12-0 last year and is now 59-12 with Elijah Brooks as head coach, will hope to keep the good times rolling when it visits Franklin (Reisterstown, Md.) next Friday night.
