McGee spurs Collegiate into VIS, Division I final

Collegiate quarterback Jake McGee had a memorable afternoon yesterday in a Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division I semifinal.

The 6-5 senior completed 21 of 36 passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Cougars over Fork Union 35-13. He was also intercepted four times and sacked on six occasions.

In addition, McGee scored one TD and bolted up the middle 32 yards for a key first down early in the fourth quarter. If that wasn't enough, the left-hander was poked in the eye and had to sit out two plays in the third quarter.

But what McGee wanted to talk about afterward were the contributions of the defense, which played a huge role in the victory at Collegiate.

"Give it up for the defense," said McGee, who has committed to the University of Richmond for next season. "I got them their only score [of the first half] on a bad pass. But the defense just held together until the offense got it going in the fourth quarter."

All the scoring in the first half came in the first 5:21. McGee sandwiched a pair of TD passes to wideout Rutherford Moore around a 14-yard interception return for a score by Fork Union's Eddie Jones that left the Cougars ahead 14-7 at intermission.

"There were some things we tried to hit them with [early] and we were successful, but they made some great adjustments," said Collegiate coach Mark Palyo.

Those adjustments by the Blue Devils (7-4) turned into sacks and interceptions that kept Fork Union in the game until early in the fourth quarter.

After a scrum following a Fork Union turnover late in the third quarter led to offsetting penalties and the ejection of Blue Devils tailback Andre Parker (98 yards on 12 carries), the Cougars (9-1) took over at their 30. But a holding call moved the ball back to the 20.

On second and 19, McGee ran 32 yards into Fork Union territory, and four plays later, the Collegiate QB went 4 yards around right end to make it 21-7 with 10 minutes left.

"We made some mistakes, turned the ball over in crucial situations in the red zone," said Fork Union coach Mickey Sullivan. "Got behind. We made a couple coverage mistakes and they got ahead a little bit further.

"When you get behind them and you've got to gamble to put pressure on Jake, then you make mistakes. That's what we did and they caught us. We worked all week on not making mistakes, but you can't fumble the ball as many times as we did [four] and beat a good football team."

The Blue Devils committed six turnovers, five of them in the second half, when Collegiate finally began pulling away.

"When our defense went out there, they definitely had size on us," said lineman Derek Martin, who had two fumble recoveries. "We figured we could stop their running game and make them start passing. Our coaches did a good job of scheming it out for us and let us know what was going on.

"We kept our composure and realized this could be our last game, for a lot of our seniors, and that was a driving factor."

An 18-yard TD pitch from McGee to Connor Kelley after the Blue Devils had gone for it and failed on fourth and 10 from their 18 all but put the game out of reach at 28-7 with 6:24 to go.

"Our defense gave up only six points against that team the entire game," said Palyo. "I think that's a tremendous effort."

Top-seeded Collegiate reached next Saturday's title game at home against No.2 Liberty Christian, which crushed No.3 Potomac 63-0 on Friday night. The Cougars will be seeking their sixth championship in seven years.

Fork Union ------------------------- 7 0 0 6 - 13
Collegiate ------------------------- 14 0 0 21 - 35

C - Moore 12 pass from McGee (Sharpe kick)

FU - Jones 14 interception return (Branch kick)

C - Moore 25 pass from McGee (Wrenn kick)

C - McGee 4 run (Sharpe kick)

C - C. Kelley 18 pass from McGee (Wrenn kick)

FU - Naimool 15 pass from Quittenton (kick blocked)

C - T. Kelley 54 pass from McGee (Sharpe kick)
RUSHING

Fork Union - Parker, 12 carries, 98 yards, Quittenton 9-8, Starnes 4-minus 8, Litkett 1-minus 3. Collegiate - Harper 5-22, McGee 16-14, Speight 1-2.
PASSING

Fork Union - Quittenton 6 completions-10 attempts-98 yards-2 interceptions, Starnes 4-10-39. Collegiate - McGee 21-36-406-4, Speight 0-1.
RECEIVING

Fork Union - Zewdie 1 catch-14 yards, Naimool 6-61, Garnett 2-42, Jones 1-20. Collegiate - Newsome 6-70, Peaseley 1-57, Moore 4-67, Harper 5-68, C. Kelley 2-30, T. Kelley 3-114.