The forecast that called for rain during Saturday's Class 1A North Region semifinal between Catoctin and host Chesapeake-Baltimore County was only wrong.
Well, until the final minutes and 45 seconds left to play.
However, Catoctin High's deluge of touchdowns only held off until the beginning of the second half, as the Cougars took an easy 34-0 decision at Kenwood High on Saturday.
After a scoreless first half, Catoctin's running game finally found its groove on the third play of the third quarter. Bryce McGuire found his way out of a crowd, starting on the Cougars' 21, then finding open field at the 40. He made it 73 yards, just shy of a touchdown.
"Right away, I got really good blocks on the outside, and from there it was open field," McGuire said.
"I was heading to the end zone, but I didn't make it."
It was the first drop of offense for Catoctin. The scoring downpour came right after, with 1- and 5-yard touchdown runs from Nathan Lenhart.
Sean Chilson got Catoctin a 16-0 lead with his 8-yard touchdown run, capped by McGuire's first 2-point conversion at the end of the third quarter. The two teamed up again in the fourth, with Chilson running a 34-yard touchdown and McGuire's second jaunt to pay dirt.
The Cougars had severely different levels of motivation from the first half to the second half of the game.
"We got pretty pumped up," McGuire said.
"We heard them call us soft, saying that we didn't hit that hard, so we were going to run it down their throats, score a couple of touchdowns, then get out of here."
Catoctin was a perfect 5-for-5 on second half drives, capping each with a touchdown. Jake Watson snagged the last score with a 16-yard run with 3 minutes and 28 seconds left to play.
The rain started to increase on Chesapeake's final drive of the game, until the game was called with 2:45 left to play.