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In any football game, there might be one or two key plays that will have people talking long after the game ends.

But in Friday's 2A South Region semifinal at North Point High School in Waldorf, the Frederick Douglass High football team had not one or two plays, but one key possession that was crucial as the Eagles earned a 32-10 victory.

Those plays that will be remembered came on ‘The Drive' that the offensive unit put together to begin the fourth quarter after North Point returned an interception 63 yards for a touchdown to end the third quarter. Junior quarterback Richard Barber capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. The possession took 5 minutes, 13 seconds off the clock, putting Douglass back on top by two scores and completely deflating North Point (8-3). Douglass (9-2) advanced to Friday's regional final against defending state champ River Hill (11-0), which eliminated No. 4 seed Gwynn Park, 20-6, in the region's other semifinal.

Douglass statistically dominated North Point, outgaining it 313-100 from the line of scrimmage, including a 224-51 advantage on the ground, led by senior Trey Massey's 91 yards on 13 carries.

But ‘The Drive' was executed to perfection.

"When they got the interception, when I was on the sidelines, I was like ‘let's go, let's go,'" said Massey. "So when we got back on the field, I said we were going to run back down the field on them. My offense, when we say we're going to do something, we're going to do it. I told my line not to worry because we had them. We began at our 20 and we ran down the field on them."

Douglass extended an 8-3 halftime to lead to 16-3 on Barber's 5-yard scoring pass to senior Prince Onuoha with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter. And the Eagles were moving the ball again as the third quarter was expiring. But Barber threw a long pass into tight coverage that North Point senior Quentin Walker picked off and ran back for a touchdown. With the extra-point kick, North Point was back within six points.

There was pressure on Douglass' offense to maintain control of the ball the rest of the way. One slip up on a drizzly evening could have given North Point a chance to win. But it never happened. Douglass drove the ball seemingly at will on its ensuing possession, gaining 67 yards on the ground. Barber hit Maurco Bradley for a 13-yard pass play as the Eagles converted a third and 5.

"We just stayed focused and concentrated on the game plan," said Barber. "They weren't doing a good job of containing our offense."

And without the line protecting the backfield, the results would have been different.

"We just wanted to do what we do to everybody, run the ball and play good defense," said senior center Joseph Terrell. "We pounded the ball. They weren't stopping it, so we kept pounding it."

Terrell, along with seniors Tijon Porter, Mike Cherry, Kadeem Corbin and Ameer Taylor, who filled in for Corey Sanders, who was injured in the game, and junior Javon Miles all contributed in allowing their offense time to get the job done.

After ‘The Drive,' junior William McKenzie recovered an onside kick that gave the ball back to Douglass. Five running plays later, Emmanuel Paul capped off the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run.

"Our guys know there's going to be highs and lows during a game," said Douglass coach J.C. Pinkney. "The thing was, we were still ahead [after the interception] and we had to let our guys know that. We were still in control of the game. If time runs out from that point on, we're still winning 16-10."

Douglass held North Point junior running back Arlando Scott to just 28 yards on 12 carries. Scott entered the game with 1,300 yards this season.

"We got it to 16-10 and then they were able to control up front and keep the ball moving," said North Point coach Ken Lane. "We needed a stop and we didn't get a stop. Douglass has good athletes and plays great defense. That's the kind of things that championship teams do." 

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.