La Plata downs McDonough
Warriors improve to 3-2 on season
After watching his squad go winless in his rookie season at the helm two years ago, La Plata High School head football coach Rod Milstead attempted to savor Thursday’s 32-6 victory over visiting McDonough in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Chesapeake Division clash.
La Plata’s football program was hardly synonymous with winning prior to Milstead’s arrival and even through his first two seasons the Warriors won a combined sum of two games. But Thursday’s victory marked the team’s second straight tally and pushed the Warriors to one game over .500 at the midway point of the season.
“We finally have a twogame win streak,” said Milstead, whose team defeated Leonardtown one week earlier, 54-6, to win the school’s homecoming game. “It feels pretty good. To think we’re 3-2 now. We’re still a long way from where we want to be, but we’ve come a long way since the first day. There are still some little things we need to clean up, but we’re making progress.”
While La Plata (3-2, 1-0 SMAC Chesapeake) could celebrate its second straight victory, McDonough is gradually showing the effects of a diminishing healthy roster. Rams second-year head coach Jonathan Briscoe began the season with 32 players on the roster, but that number continues to slide as injuries accumulate.
“When you only have 24 players to start a game, a lot of guys are playing through some minor ailments,” Briscoe said. “Then, we had a couple of guys cramp up in the second half and we sat some other guys just because we didn’t want to extend them too much. I like the fight that we’re showing, but we have to play with a little more discipline on both sides of the ball.”
La Plata marched 72 yards on its opening possession by mixing run and pass plays well and finally found the end zone when senior Peytyn Gray scored from six yards out midway through the first quarter.
On its first possession of the second quarter, La Plata needed only five plays to go 78 yards and claim a 12-0 lead. On the first play, Sinclair connected with wide receiver Stephen Cobb for 60 yards and four plays later he hit Nico Stout from seven yards out. Sinclair was then sacked on the 2-point attempt.
McDonough (2-3, 0-2) countered with a drive that stalled in La Plata territory and the Warriors responded by going 65 yards on eight plays to forge a 20-0 lead just before the intermission. Sinclair found Gray twice out of the backfield for 52 yards and then Gray found pay dirt on a 3-yard run and added the 2-point conversion for good measure.
McDonough’s last drive of the first half and first drive of the third quarter ended in La Plata territory and the Warriors countered with a long drive of their own.
Sinclair opened the drive with a 14-yard run and completed three passes for 42 yards, then scored from 17 yards out on a keeper to extend the hosts advantage to 26-0 with 3 minutes 21 seconds left in the quarter.
McDonough again displayed the ability to move the ball on the ground and through the air, reaching the La Plata 1-yard line. But four Rams plays failed to find the end zone again and the Rams turned the ball over on downs at the Warriors’ 2. La Plata countered with an impressive 97-yard drive that ended at the Rams’ 1 midway through the fourth quarter.
Later in the period, McDonough quarterback Marquez Smith found a hole up the middle, bounced to the outside and raced down the right sidelines for a 97-yard scamper for a touchdown that was easily the highlight of the night for the visitors.