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The usual suspects — Jelani Jenkins, Caleb Porzel, Louis Young and Chris Pitsenberger — played huge roles in Good Counsel's victory over DeMatha Thursday, but if not for a gutsy play by kicker/punter Mark Hamilton, the contest would have been a lot more tense.

With the Falcons holding a 35-21 lead with under 11 minutes to play and DeMatha's offense starting to catch fire, with touchdowns in its previous two drives, the Good Counsel coaching staff entrusted Hamilton with a critical fourth-and-six play. He was given the option of faking a punt and running for the first down, or executing a rugby-style kick while running to his right.

After a quick look before the snap, Hamilton — also a member of the school's track team — hesitated for just a moment before racing down the right sideline. He was finally stopped after a 21-yard gain, plus a face mask penalty that moved the ball to DeMatha's 34. Five plays later, Jenkins scored from a yard out for a 42-21 lead with 7 minutes, 43 seconds remaining.

"We worked on it in practice [but] to be honest, I wasn't too sure until coming around the end," Hamilton said. "I saw some green space. I just took it around and it felt real good. I just looked at the right end to see where he lined up and I knew running was an option. I knew I have some speed; I'm a track guy, so I knew I was going to take it up."

Added Good Counsel quarterback Tyler Campbell: "That was my favorite play of the game. I was happy when I saw him start running. He said he saw no one in front of him. I knew he could make it. He's a track star in the spring."

Hamilton was also a key defender all game with his booming kickoffs — all but one landed in the end zone, forcing DeMatha to start from its 20-yard line — and a pair of lengthy punts travelling 46 and 43 yards, one of which bounded inside the 20-yard line. His seven kickoffs averaged 61.9 yards.

Quarterback has his best game

After watching his squad roll through its first four opponents via a punishing ground attack led by Porzel and Jenkins, Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy believed his team's passing game would have to more productive for the Falcons to put points on the board against DeMatha.

That meant Campbell would have to play a more prominent role. While the Falcons were able to run the ball quite effectively — Porzel rushed for 125 of their 221 yards, with three touchdowns to boot — Campbell had by far his best game of the season. He completed all nine of his attempts for 176 yards and a score, giving him 569 yards and seven touchdown passes for the season.

While the nine attempts were just slightly above his average (roughly six per game), it was his ability to find teammates for lengthy completions that pointed the way to victory. With the win, Good Counsel remained perfect at 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference.

On the team's first drive, Campbell hooked up with Porzel for a 23-yard strike to move the ball to the DeMatha 25-yard line. Later in the first quarter, Campbell tossed a 32-yard pass to wideout E.J. Scott. Two plays later, Porzel scored to make the score 14-0.

In the third quarter, Campbell capped a five-play, 80-yard drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Louis Young. Lastly, he set up the team's final score with a 39-yard pass to Young that put the ball on the DeMatha 3.

"DeMatha, I was kind of shocked because they always have tough defenses," said Campbell. "But they did make adjustments. We didn't score 28 in all the other quarters."