McDaniel leaves no room for error as Episcopal Academy surges late

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NEWTOWN SQUARE — Maurcus McDaniel could have stepped out of bounds or taken a knee deep inside St. Mary’s territory, but it wasn’t the ending he, nor his Episcopal Academy teammates, wanted on their opening night.

Instead of killing the clock with less than a minute to play, he raced into the end zone on a 64-yard run.

“I wanted to end it right there,” McDaniel said. “We had a lot of mistakes throughout the game. I didn’t want to have another mistake. I just wanted to finish it off.”

The touchdown, his second rushing score of the night, capped the scoring in a 34-21 victory for the Churchmen.

To McDaniel’s point, EA did make mistakes, the kind one might expect in an opener: The Churchmen committed 10 penalties for 80 yards, several of them false starts; they gave up 291 rushing yards; and they turned the ball over twice without taking it away.

But McDaniel’s star turn at quarterback offset the miscues against a tough opponent — the Saints, based in Annapolis, won the MIAA B Conference championship in 2018.

McDaniel finished 11-for-17 with 202 yards and a touchdown and added 172 rushing yards and those two scores on the ground.

“I liked a lot of things (we did tonight),” McDaniel said. “We spread a lot. We had a lot of threats on the field. We have a lot of things going for us.”

After St. Mary’s opened the scoring following a Churchmen fumble, EA’s offense found its groove. McDaniel hit Bryce Cooper for a 54-yard gain that gave the Churchmen a first-and-goal with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter. McDaniel completed the drive with a one-yard dive.

Another big pass play made the difference on EA’s next possession. McDaniel faked a screen then found Malcolm Folk on a crossing route. Folk raced 75 yards for a touchdown.

It was more of the same later in the half: McDaniel down the sideline to Brian Virbitsky for 39 yards, then Adams into the end zone from four yards out.

The Churchmen took that 21-7 edge into halftime, but couldn’t add to it following the break. St. Mary’s running-back duo of Alex Wicks (37 carries, 218 yards) and Ki’Sean Gray-Dantzler (16 carries, 65 yards) continued to gash the EA defensive line. Wicks scored all three of the Saints’ touchdowns. His third tied the game at 21 with 10:21 to go.

McDaniel regrouped.

“I was just trying to put our team in a position to score,” McDaniel said. “It didn’t matter if we kicked the field goal or scored on the ground or through the air.”

Adams ended up providing the go-ahead play. After McDaniel brought the Churchmen into St. Mary’s territory with two rushes, Adams broke through the left side for a 39-yard scoring scamper. That gave the hosts a 28-21 lead with the extra point, but there was still time left, and the Saints used it.

St. Mary’s moved to the Episcopal 36. But on fourth down, the Churchmen’s run defense, beaten all night, came up big and stuffed Wicks after a short gain with 1:11 on the clock.

McDaniel played it safe on his first carry following that play, diving for a one-yard gain. On the next snap, he saw daylight and took off toward victory.

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Dillon Friday

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