By Ben Spector
If you had showed up to the start of the state semifinal round of the 2015 Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (M.P.S.S.A.A.) 4A Football Tournament between the Reservoir Gators and the Damascus Hornets it would have appeared to the average fan as if the game had just ended.
Green smoke billowed out of the student section after a European soccer-esque display, cheerleaderds and dancers danced on the field to the aptly named “We Want the Funk”, and fireworks exploded in the background. Truthfully, what was a mood fit for the coronation of a team as a state champion and one of the best football programs in Maryland was actually just the typical pre-game hype that comes when you play in Damascus.
In many ways it was a coronation. A coronation for a team that knows they still have one more game to go before they get the real crown they’re looking for. A coronation for one of the best running backs that the state of Maryland has ever seen and a coronation for a community that deserves a winner.
And, the game in many ways was also a coronation as the Hornets rolled over the Gators behind another sublime game from senior running back Jake Funk and the rest of the offense by a score of 48-7, booking their trip back to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland for another shot at a state championship.
Even if it seemed like a coronation and the result did agree with that statement, Damascus head coach Eric Wallich insisted that his players understood that they needed to go out and perform.
“We were in the same situation in 2010 and that at this point in the season anybody is good and anybody can beat you on any given night,” said Wallich who knows that the Hornets will have a shot at the state title that proved elusive last year.
At the forefront of the Hornets attack has been Funk and tonight was no different as the Maryland commit would score early and score often for Damascus. After a 3 and out to start the game by the Gators, Funk would make his first touch an important one as on the second play from scrimmage for the Hornets he would take it 44 yards to give the Hornets an early 7-0 lead.
Funk was not done there though, Reservoir was struggling to move the ball out of their own territory and then after being stopped deep in their own territory they couldn’t punt the ball deep usually leaving Damascus with possession around midfield which is right in Funk’s range. On the Hornets next possession, they would be stopped but after Reservoir’s third straight three and out Funk would strike again. This time he would do it on the second play of the drive as after a 10 yard run of his own, he would boogie 56 yards for his second TD of the night.
Damascus would be held on their next possession so they would end the first quarter up 14-0 with Reservoir driving the ball.
From there on out it would be all Damascus as after stopping Reservoir deep in Hornets territory Funk would take the first play of that drive 73 yards for a TD with him adding one on the next drive, this time from a measly 16 yards out.
It wasn’t just Funk doing the dirty work as Marcus Vinson, the Hutch to Funk’s Starsky, would get in on the act as the Hornets would prove that they could move the ball through the air with Hornets quarterback Julian Kinard hitting Vinson on a lovely slant route for a 42 yard touchdown pass to put the Hornets up 34-0.
Vinson wasn’t done there as on the very next play he would jump the route on a deep pass from Reservoir quarterback Jaris Foreman, intercept the pass, and return it 75 yards for a touchdown on an acrobatic return in which Vinson had to change directions twice, juke out two defenders and dive for the pylon to score.
With, a 41-0 lead at the half it seemed to be all but a formality that the Hornets were headed back to Baltimore but with Funk on the edge of a record there was one thing left for the player who head coach Eric Wallich said, was “as good as any player who’s ever been here”, to do, and that was break the only record he’s left standing.
On the third play of the first Hornets drive of the second half, Funk would rumble for a 61 yard touchdown setting the record for most touchdowns in a single season by a high-school football player in the M.P.S.S.A.A. with 50 touchdowns this year.
Reservoir would score on a touchdown pass from Foreman to end the third quarter but at this point it was all but over as Wallich and the Hornets took a final step towards the crown and treating the fans to the crown they’ve been searching for.
“These are the best fans in the state of Maryland, I just love them,” said Wallich. “They support us and that’s why we want to win it so bad. It’s for the whole community.”
The crown that Damascus will be shooting for next is certainly big enough for the whole community to wear if the regal performances from the Hornets keep coming.
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