Cougars maul Saints

There aren’t too many quarterbacks who have the stiff-arm in their arsenal in eluding pass rushers.

On the other hand, Collegiate senior Jake McGee is no ordinary quarterback. With 373 passing yards and four touchdowns from McGee, Collegiate downed St. Anne’s-Belfield on the road Friday 37-14.

With Collegiate (5-1) typically utilizing four and five wide receivers sets, McGee was generally exceptional and often breathtaking, particularly in the first half. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound quarterback, who has already made a verbal commitment to Richmond, threw for 373 yards and four touchdowns on 28-of-42 passing and rushed eight times for 80 yards.

“[This offense] is a lot of fun,” McGee said. “You get to try to make a play every play. It can be tough at times – it’s demanding – but it’s a responsibility that I like.”

No matter what the Saints (2-4) threw at McGee in the pass rush in the first half, he somehow managed to worm his way out of trouble before hitting his intended target. And those targets were many — in the first half alone, six different receivers hauled in receptions, and a different receiver hauled in each of three touchdowns.

“This is [McGee’s] third year starting for us at this position,” Collegiate coach Keith Evans said, “So I’m finally comfortable with what he ends up doing with some of these things.”

“You can’t tackle him,” St. Anne’s coach John Blake added. “He’s just good. I’m just glad he’s leaving. I’d much rather watch him play at Richmond than at Collegiate.”

Initially, though, it was a Saints mistake that led to an early Cougar lead. After Collegiate went three-and-out to start the game, the subsequent punt was muffed by returner Aaron Clark, and recovered by the Cougars. McGee went on to fire a 24-yard touchdown pass to Alex Newsome to put Collegiate on the board.

The second quarter, though, was when the Cougars really got going.

Midway through the quarter, McGee led Collegiate down the field and hit Rutherford Moore in the back of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown.

McGee’s most dazzling play of the night capped Collegiate’s third touchdown drive to end the half, a drive that lasted all of 30 seconds. After taking over at the Saints’ 49-yard line with just under a minute remaining in the half, McGee first ran for nine yards to the 40-yard line out of bounds.

Then, two plays later, McGee found some magic. Taking the snap out of the shotgun, he first eluded two pass rushers rolling right toward the sideline, then split through two more tacklers and stepped up in the pocket. Then, with still more Saints closing in, effortlessly zipped a pass to a wide-open Connor Kelley behind the coverage in the end zone.

“I just tried to keep working, and tried to keep my eyes downfield while watching the rush,” McGee said. “I guess they slipped up a little in coverage, and [Kelley] found a hole, and it was a nice play.”

Just like that, Collegiate went into the locker room with a seemingly-insurmountable 21-0 lead.

But, thanks to some halftime adjustments by St. Anne’s, the Saints hung around. Though the Cougars continued to move the ball, they mustered just a field goal through the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter.

“We were dropping eight quite a few times,” Blake said. “Then, we went monkey – we manned up, and came at him a couple times, and we made a few plays there.”

Meanwhile, the Saints’ offense finally got going. Quarterback Jacob Rainey found wide receiver Joseph Stuart in single coverage on several occasions and hit him for three completions of 25 yards or more, including a 30-yard touchdown.

“They had some perfect throws and catches,” Evans said. “Our guy could have been right on the receiver running with him, and the timing and placement of the ball was just perfect.”

Then, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, St. Anne’s was successful on a fake punt on fourth-and-12, as Rainey took the snap and hit, Will McGhee for a 30-yard gain to the six-yard line. McGhee plunged for a two-yard score with 8:05 remaining to cut the margin to 24-14.

The Saints then forced another three-and-out, and marched from their own 25 to the Cougars’ 20-yard line with 3:31 on the clock, but Daniel Chester’s field goal attempt was blocked.

“The snap was a little high, and Daniel didn’t get all of it,” Blake said.

Collegiate opened up on St. Anne’s-Belfield from there. McGee found Russell Harper on a quick slant, and Harper cut back to the sideline and used a downfield block to get all the way to the end zone for an 80-yard score.

Corner Lee Peaseley picked off Rainey on the Saints’ next drive and took it to the house for the game’s last score.

Against a remarkable quarterback and a generally formidable Collegiate squad, though, Blake was proud of his team’s resolve at game’s end.

“I don’t think anybody in the stands would have said that it would be 24-14 with eight [minutes] to play,” Blake said. “We give them two [touchdowns] in the end and they expand the score, but I’m proud of our guys.”

St. Anne’s-Belfield had trouble establishing the running game all day. McGhee led all Saints with 57 yards rushing on six carries, while Aaron Clark ran for 28 yards on 15 carries. Rainey finished with 141 yards through the air with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Both teams return to conference play next week as St. Anne’s hosts Covenant in the ODFC and Collegiate visits Prep League foe Fork Union.