By Kyle McFadden
DAMASCUS- With celebratory festivities rambling on, each member of the Damascus Swarmin’ Hornets, one-by-one, got a hand on the shiny wood-backed 3A West region championship plaque. Grinning from ear-to-ear, they stood for the camera as it clicked away. They struck a playful pose then followed it by a rather more serious one.
Either way, chalk it up in the record books. That in the states toughest region, the Hornets carved through it without barely breaking a sweat. Only one week removed from a 44-21 stomping of Oakdale, they followed it up by playing virtually mistake free football for 48-minutes to rout their cross county foe, Seneca Valley, 45-3. They now sit one win away from making their second straight trip back to M&T Bank Stadium.
“You can’t get any better than that,” Damascus head coach Eric Wallich said on his teams play. “I never expected that. We thought it was going to come down to a really close game.”
Damascus dominated almost every aspect of the game on Friday night from the total yards (318-117), to first downs (8-4) and field position as their average drive started on the Eagles’ 46-yard line compared to Seneca Valley’s average start at their own 20-yard line.
“This is so great,” Damascus running back Jake Funk said. “To come out and beat a rival like that, it’s a statement.”
As many anticipated a classic in the making with two in-county rivals duking it out for the heralded 3A West region championship and state semifinal bid, the Swarmin’ Hornets had other plans. They got on the board first when quarterback Julian Kinard flipped a pitch back to Markus Vinson that he took one yard across the pylon to make it 7-0 Damascus just minutes into the game.
Then a few drives later, Vinson electrified the Swarmin’ Hornet faithful by receiving a monstrous hole up the middle courtesy of his offensive line and capitalized on a 56-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 14-0 in favor of Damascus with 11:11 left in the second quarter.
“Once you see daylight, you just gotta go,” Vinson said, who finished the game off with 91 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just five carries. “The offensive line was terrific tonight.”
With the 4.3-speedster of Vinson setting the tone in the early going, University of Maryland commit, Jake Funk, put the game out of reach, scoring twice in a 20-second time span on a four yard and 19-yard run after Seneca Valley fumbled the ensuing kickoff. The score quickly ballooned to 28-0 just minutes into the second quarter.
“(Funk and Vinson) are our one-two punch,” Wallich said. “(Jake) Funk is our horse, Markus (Vinson) is extremely explosive. We know one guy can’t do it all, so it’s all in the rotation.”
The Hornets defense was rarely tested all night long, only giving up a mere four first downs and 117 total yards on 38 plays.
“Our coaches preach to swarm the ball,” Damascus linebacker Da’Quan Grimes said. “And that’s the motto. To always swarm the ball.”
Then with 1:09 left in the first half, history was made. Funk bounced outside and followed fellow blockers down the right sideline to rip off a 73-yard touchdown run, the 89th of his career, launching himself into sole possession of second place for most touchdowns scored in Maryland high school football history.
Tavon Austin, who now plays for the Rams, holds the record with 123. Funk finished off a night where he cements his name as one of the greatest running back’s in the states football history with 193 total yards on 21 touches.
“The offensive line, just can’t thank them enough,” Funk said. “They are the reason why we won this game tonight.”
Funk later scored his fourth touchdown of the game and 45th on the season with 2:42 left in the third quarter. But, at that moment, a running clock was already in effect and acts of celebration were being exercised.
Seneca Valley played most of the game without it’s standout running back, Adrian Feliz-Platt, who popped his hamstring just minutes left in the first quarter. Head coach Fred Kim has faced adversity all season long, but he knew when Platt went down, it may have been too little, too late.
“That was significant,” Kim said. “We just didn’t have enough. (Damascus) has one of the best offensive lines I’ve ever seen. Those guys do a lot of things right, hats off to them. It just wasn’t enough. We turned it up a notch this year, but if you want to win a championship, I guess we need to turn it up a little more.”
Seneca Valley’s Darius Golston finished the night with 97 total yards on 12 touches. Damascus will now sit back and wait to see who they host next Friday as Potomac plays Wheaton in the 3A East region championship on Saturday.
“We get that feeling everyday, what it was like to lose to Franklin,” Funk said. “Finishing what we started off last year would mean the world to me and this town.”
You can follow me on Twitter @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access @MDSportsAccess.
See the individual statistics below for other notable standouts throughout the game.
Photos taken by Austin McFadden.
Box score
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| DAM | 7 | 31 | 7 | 0 | 45 |
| SV | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Scoring summary
| DAM | SV | ||||
| 1st | 8:25 | DAM | Markus Vinson 1-yard run (Curry kick) | 7 | 0 |
| 2nd | 11:11 | DAM | Markus Vinson 56-yard run (Curry kick) | 14 | 0 |
| 9:27 | DAM | Jake Funk 4-yard run (Curry kick) | 21 | 0 | |
| 8:57 | DAM | Jake Funk 19-yard run (Curry kick) | 28 | 0 | |
| 1:58 | SV | Rey Genovez 31-yard field goal | 28 | 3 | |
| 1:09 | DAM | Jake Funk 73-yard run (Curry kick) | 35 | 3 | |
| 0:00 | DAM | Joe Curry 26-yard field goal | 38 | 3 | |
| 3rd | 2:42 | DAM | Jake Funk 4-yard run (Curry kick) | 45 | 3 |
Damascus individual statistics
| Passing | Comp. | Att. | Yards | Comp. % | TD | INT | QBR |
| #7 Julian Kinard | 4 | 9 | 55 | 44.44% | 0 | 1 | 25.0 |
| Rushing | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #34 Jake Funk | 20 | 171 | 8.6 | 4 | 73 |
| #16 Markus Vinson | 5 | 95 | 19.0 | 2 | 56 |
| #27 Ben Lokos | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 2 |
| #7 Julian Kinard | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 |
| #12 Sevaun Simpson | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 2 |
| #11 Will Armstrong | 4 | -8 | -2.0 | 0 | -1 |
| Total | 34 | 266 | 7.8 | 6 | 73 |
| Receiving | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #80 Joey Salisbury | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 | 22 |
| #34 Jake Funk | 1 | 22 | 22.0 | 0 | 22 |
| #16 Markus Vinson | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | -3 |
| Total | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 0 | 22 |
Seneca Valley statistics
| Passing | Comp. | Att. | Yards | Comp. % | TD | INT | QBR |
| #11 Petey Gaskins | 5 | 15 | 52 | 33.33% | 0 | 0 | 44.3 |
| Rushing | Att. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #32 Darius Golston | 11 | 70 | 6.4 | 0 | 46 |
| #6 Donovan Beckett-Simms | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 |
| #7 Adrian Feliz-Platt | 6 | 2 | 0.3 | 0 | 3 |
| #11 Petey Gaskins | 5 | -11 | -2.2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 23 | 65 | 2.8 | 0 | 46 |
| Receiving | Rec. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long |
| #32 Darius Golston | 1 | 27 | 27.0 | 0 | 27 |
| #20 Lance Wilson | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 0 | 26 |
| #6 Donovan Beckett-Simms | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 3 |
| #13 Dawayne Kelley | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 | -1 |
| #8 Cortez Ervin | 1 | -3 | -3.0 | 0 | -3 |
| Total | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 0 | 27 |
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