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After his team was trounced and nearly humiliated in a nationally televised regular season game at Good Counsel six weeks ago, DeMatha High School football coach Bill McGregor realized the Stags had to make some adjustments defensively.

When DeMatha dropped a 42-21 decision to Good Counsel before an ESPN2 audience on Oct. 2, it seemed the Falcons were on their way toward ending the Stags' five-year reign as Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champions. But Saturday night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, DeMatha won its sixth consecutive WCAC title, rolling past Good Counsel, 34-7.

On the second play of the second half, DeMatha senior cornerback Emmanuel McPherson intercepted a Tyler Campbell pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to give the Stags a 14-7 lead, and the Falcons never recovered. Good Counsel (11-1) suffered its only loss of the season. DeMatha ended the campaign at 10-2.

"We changed our defensive formation from a 4-3 to a 3-3-5," McGregor said. "That first game [on Oct. 2] we gave up too many big plays to [Caleb] Porzell and [Jelani] Jenkins. They just killed us on big plays. Our defense did a great job today. That interception to start the second half really set the tone. After that we did a good job getting our running game going. Aaron [Conaway] had some nice runs and Tommy [Chroniger] didn't want to come off the field. He played linebacker, safety, everything. He's really the heart and soul of this team."

Chroniger, DeMatha's quarterback, was sacked and fumbled on the Stags' first possession and the Falcons took over at the DeMatha 30-yard line. Good Counsel marched to the Stags' 1 and looked poised to strike quickly, much as they had done in the regular season meeting when the Falcons scored 28 unanswered points in the first quarter. But DeMatha's defense held and forced the Falcons to settle for a 27-yard field goal attempt that senior Mark Hamilton clanked off the right upright.

DeMatha drove into Good Counsel territory before being forced to punt, which left the Falcons starting their next drive from their own 8-yard line. But the Stags were quickly reminded about Good Counsel's quick-strike capabilities as Campbell connected with junior E.J. Scott on a play that covered 70 yards. Three plays later, Porzell ran 12 yards for a touchdown to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead. But the next Good Counsel possession proved to be pivotal and nearly disastrous.

Campbell connected with Porzell on a screen pass, but the Falcons' running back was hit and fumbled and the ball bounced into the Good Counsel end zone. At least three DeMatha players appeared to have dead aim on the ball, but Porzell managed to recover it in the end zone, giving DeMatha a safety. Although the Stags trailed 7-2, they clearly had shifted the momentum of the contest.

Starting the next drive on the Good Counsel 48, DeMatha overcame a false start penalty and got 23 yards on a third-and-24 before converting on fourth down on a sneak by Chroniger. Three plays later, junior Marcus Coker scored on a 6-yard run. The extra point attempt was blocked, but the Stags had an 8-7 lead.

"At halftime, we looked up at the board and saw it was 8-7 and we noticed that Good Counsel appeared to be down," Chroniger said. "It was like they were about to give up. I don't think they stopped playing hard, but we really took over on both sides of the ball. We just executed perfectly, especially our running game because I, personally, did not have a good game."

McPhearson's interception return to start the second half signaled the beginning of the end for the Falcons. After 11 games of flawless execution, Good Counsel went backwards. After taking a lateral from Campbell, Porzell had a pass intercepted by Kyrrel Latimer, who returned the ball to the Falcons' 45. Three plays later, Conaway scored from 25 yards out on a trap play up the middle as the Stags took a 21-7 lead.

Good Counsel did not cross midfield on its next two possessions. DeMatha, meanwhile, went 42 yards on only three plays and Coker scored on a 3-yard run to make it a 28-7 lead with 9 minutes, 39 seconds remaining. The Falcons failed on a fake punt on their next possession and the Stags delivered the knockout punch by taking more than six minutes off the clock and ending all doubt on a 3-yard touchdown run by Conaway with 1:43 remaining.