Calvert Hall tops No. 3 Mount St. Joseph for chance at MIAA A football title repeat

Calvert Hall football players Hunter Bowen and Keaton Eyring watched from the other side of the field early Saturday afternoon as several Mount St. Joseph students carried away a black makeshift casket.

The casket, with “R.I.P. CHC” in red letters stood upright near the Gaels student section for Saturday’s MIAA A Conference football semifinal.

The seventh-ranked Cardinals, whose playoff hopes were slipping into critical condition a few weeks ago, are very much alive and will defend their championship after a 21-13 victory over No. 3 Mount St. Joseph in Southwest Baltimore.

Senior quarterback Noah Brannock ran for two touchdowns, and Xzavion Crumb returned a fumble for a score for Calvert Hall (6-5 overall). Peyton Youngbar threw for two touchdowns for Mount St. Joseph (7-4).

The Cardinals will play second-ranked Archbishop Spalding for the MIAA A crown, Friday night at 7:30 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. Calvert Hall will try to become the first team since St. Frances (2016 to 2018) to go back-to-back in the area’s premier high school football league.

The third-seeded Cardinals are headed to the state capital after beating No. 2 seed Mount St. Joseph on its home turf for a second straight season.

“We’re a gritty team…we’re always the underdogs,” said Bowen, a senior defensive back. “That’s what we did last year and we came out here and did it again. It was a funeral theme, but guess what, we’re going to Navy Stadium.”

“We’ve bet on ourselves,” said Brannock. “They wrote us off but we ain’t writing back.”

Brannock broke a 7-7 fourth quarter tie with a 47-yard touchdown scamper with six minutes, 13 seconds left in regulation. The William & Mary University commit broke free for a 19-yard touchdown run, capping a four-play, 40-yard drive, giving Calvert Hall a 21-7 advantage with 1:33 remaining.

Brannock’s running was a change-up to the inside-and-out duo of seniors Dawon Dorsey and Daniel Harper Jr.. Harper, who missed most of the season with a knee injury, grinded for 97 yards between the tackles while Dorsey finished with 14 carries for 76 yards.

Calvert Hall rushed for 265 yards Saturday.

“You got two really good running backs in Harper and Dawon, both seniors, and last year, they carried us to the championship last year in this game last year and Harper got hurt,” said Calvert Hall coach Josh Ward. “Dawon got hurt early in the season and Harper was out until October so getting those two backs at the right time with two games to go.”

The Cardinals’ defense, which posted its first shutout last weekend against St. Vincent Pallotti, provided an early spark Saturday. Sophomore Darius Smith, on a blitz, hit Gaels quarterback Peyton Youngbar. The ball came free and Crumb picked it up at the Gaels’ 40-yard line and ran to the end zone for a touchdown.

Youngbar, filling in for an ill Gael junior starter Winston Watkins, led Mount St. Joseph on a 13-play, 65-yard drive, capped an eight-yard toss to Ronald Brown in the corner of the end zone, tying the game at seven with 2:12 left in the third quarter.

The Gaels got the ball back after Calvert Hall missed a 37-yard field goal attempt. Youngbar’s pass across the middle was intercepted by senior Ricardo Cooper.

Two plays later, Brannock (72 yards) faked a handoff to Harper and rolled to his left. He sprinted down the middle then angled to the corner of the end zone for the tiebreaking touchdown.

“Great players made big plays in championship games and he’s one of the best quarterbacks to play at Calvert Hall,” said Ward. “He made two big runs, not using his arm. “He’s stepping up.”

Youngbar threw his second score on the final play of regulation.

Mount St. Joseph coach Dom Damico said Youngbar, a dependable reserve wide receiver, got the nod as Watkins was unable to play Saturday because of the flu..

“He’s (Youngbar) not even our backup quarterback. We didn’t know Winston wasn’t playing until this morning,” said Damico. “We had no preparation because Winston practiced all week. It was dropped on us at 8 o’clock this morning.

We had to scrap what we could together…I’m really proud of the effort, especially the seniors. I’m really proud of the school and the administration and what they stand for.”

Three weeks ago, Calvert Hall’s playoff hopes were in peril. The Cardinals trailed McDonogh by 17 points in the fourth quarter. They scored 17 points in the final 2:30 of regulation to pull out an improbable 27-24 victory.

Standing 3-5 after a 33-22 home loss to Mount St. Joseph last month, Calvert Hall is now above .500 for the first time since winning its regular season opener.

“I told the guys that’s why we play those difficult out of conference games so when we get to these types of games, we’re playing at an all-time high,” said Ward. “That’s where we are right now.”

Calvert Hall likely will need to play its best game of the season Friday against Spalding, which routed McDonogh, 41-6, in the other semifinal Friday evening in Severn. The Cavaliers defeated Calvert Hall, 42-7, during the regular season.

“We’ve beaten all the odds,” said Bowen. “We like overcoming adversity.”

MIAA A CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL

NO. 7 CALVERT HALL 21, NO. 3 MOUNT ST. JOSEPH 13

Calvert Hall 7 0 0 14 - 21

Mount St. Joseph 0 0 7 6 - 13

First quarter

Calvert Hall - Xzavion Crumb 40 fumble return (Carter O’Connell kick)

Third quarter

Mount St. Joseph - Ronald Brown 8 pass from Peyton Youngbar (Chris DeGroote kick)

Fourth quarter

Calvert Hall - Noah Brannock 47 run (O’Connell kick)

Calvert Hall - Brannock 19 run (O’Connell kick)

Mount St. Joseph - Avery Jones 9 pass from Youngbar (game over)

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