In a see-saw game that went through two significant comebacks and four lead changes in the second half, ultimately it was Collegiate that wound up making that one last big play. With just over two minutes remaining and Fork Union holding a three point lead, Cougars quarterback Jake McGee ripped out the Blue Devils’ heart when he found Alex Newsome for a 34-yard touchdown to put his team out front for good in Collegiate’s 38-34 road win over FUMA.
“We got ahead, then went behind and fought back,” said Fork Union coach Micky Sullivan. “We played with emotion and with fire and there isn’t anything more that you can ask from your kids. We made some mistakes and you can’t make mistakes against a good football team like that.”
The Blue Devils came out swining early against the Cougars as running back Andre Parker was able to draw first blood on an 81-yard touchdown down run. Fork Union was able to jump out to a 20-3 just before the end of the first quarter when Parker capped another long FUMA drive with a 2-yard run and Akeem Garnett picked off McGee and returned the ball 88 yards.
However, from that point on until the fourth quarter, it was all Collegiate. Behind their strong passing attack the Cougars cut the deficit to three points before the end of the first half. Collegiate then took the lead in the third quarter on a pair of scores coming on a short touchdown pass from McGee to Russell Harper and then a Lee Peaseley interception return for a score.
But when the fourth quarter started, Fork Union came to life. With Collegiate stuffing the run, Blue Devils quarterback Richard Quittenton finally found a rhythm with his receivers and a long drive that he capped off himself with a 12-yard scoring run on a severely broken play.
The Cougars fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Quittenton went at it again, this time overcoming an offensive pass interference call on a fade to Garnett with a 19-yard strike on fourth and goal to none other than Garnett with under five minutes to play.
“We didn’t expect to get down 20-3,” McGee said. “But to have them comeback like they did, we weren’t ready for that either.”
It was from there that McGee and his receivers went back to work and were able to dig out of the hole one last time.
“You know it was intimidating to look at that,” said Collegiate coach Mark Paylo. “You look at a team like (FUMA) from a physical stand point, it’s tough. The thing I was proud of was that our kids kept coming back together as a team and that’s what kept us in this game.”
McGee finished with 281 yards passing to go along with 94 yards rushing and Newsome, his top target, hauled in eight passes for 108 yards.
Fork Union (5-3) hosts Benedictine on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
