Funk stings Eagles as Damascus pummels Seneca Valley

GERMANTOWN- With the roarant echoes “You can’t stop him! You can’t stop him! You can’t stop him!” from the Swarmin’ Hornet faithful behind him, Jake Funk reached down to pick up his helmet that launched off his head from the golden-brown turf. After fearlessly jarring ahead for a 13-yard run deep in the third quarter on a pivotal 3rd and 5, Funk trotted to the sidelines with his Maryland flag bandana that was wrapped around his head rippling in the Friday night cool breeze and received a serious of fist bumps from his coaching staff.

Being forced to the sidelines after his helmet jarred loose, the ensuing play was one of the few he watched from afar as he carried the pigskin a whopping 40 times for 262 rushing yards – powering Damascus past Seneca Valley, 21-3.

“Knowing my team believes in me enough to get the ball that many times is a great feeling,” Funk said. “I want to be that guy they turn to, when the pressure is on.”

On the first Damascus offensive possession, Funk bounced outside a trio of blockers and found room on the right sideline, rumbling 33-yards to put his Hornets at the Seneca Valley 41-yard line. Funk then slapped his chest violently, pointed to his fired up student section and ferociously yelled out “Let’s go!”

“He’s a special talent,” Damascus head coach Eric Wallich said. “We know if we feed him enough times, good things will happen.”

On the ensuing play, the Hornets used Funk as a decoy, faking the handoff while quarterback Julian Kinard flipped a screen pass to Markus Vinson that he put on the after burners, going untouched for the 41-yard opening salvo.

“They were biting towards us a little bit, keying on Jake (Funk), so it opened up some room for Julian (Kinard) to throw the ball and we took advantage of that,” Wallich said.

Midway through the second quarter on the eight yard line, Wallich and the Hornets tricked out Seneca Valley once more. Selling a routine Funk run play as Kinard rolled out and floated a pass to the wide open Joey Salisbury to break the game open, 12-3, in favor of Damascus.

“It’s not just me,” Funk said. “Everybody steps up in games like these.”

After Funk was used as a primary decoy in his teams first two scores, he was called upon to finish off the game. He rumbled and bumbled his way down the field, taking each handoff with driving force – six yards here, 10 yards there, taking hit after hit.

“It feels great having Funk back there,” Wallich said. “Knowing you can give it to him and he’ll take care of the rest.”

With 1:29 left in the fourth quarter, Funk pulled his best impression of Super Man. Leaping over top of his offensive line and lunging forward for the one yard score, putting the final nail in the coffin.

Damascus also got a much needed lift from corner back and wide receiver Markus Vinson, who finished the game with 66-total yards and batted down numerous balls in the secondary, halting the Seneca Valley passing attack. He held Old Dominion commit, Cortez Ervin, to one reception on 32 yards.

Seneca Valley, meanwhile, did not have plans walking out of Germantown with an 18-point loss in front of a substantial crowd and major playoff implications on the line. But, head coach Fred Kim stood firm and confident about where the future is headed.

“They chunked us,” he said. “Capitalizing on our mistakes and getting first downs when we needed stops. (Jake) Funk is tough, but we didn’t do what we needed to do. The kids are pissed off and they should be. We got to take care of business next week against Gaithersburg and then beat whoever we face after that.”

Slicking back his hair that was wrapped in his Maryland flag bandana, Funk jogged off the field and onto the bus back home knowing he did what he needed to do – remain undefeated and retain the 3A West number one seed.

“This is huge,” Funk said. “But it doesn’t define our season. We’re out for more.”

You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess.

Box score

Scoring summary

Damascus individual statistics

Seneca Valley individual statistics