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Seemingly a team of destiny all season long, Seneca Valley saw its undefeated football campaign go down the drain Friday night against Charles County's Westlake, 24-21 in overtime of the Class 3A state semifinals; and with it, a chance to add to its record number of state titles. The last of those championships came in 2002.
With the score knotted after 48 minutes, the Eagles got the ball first in the extra session, moving the ball 7 yards on three consecutive runs up the middle. With the ball at the 3-yard line, the Eagles eschewed a field goal attempt — first-year kicker Brian Black had missed an extra point in the game's first 10 seconds — and rolled the dice.
But what was supposed to be a handoff to bulky junior Jaiquan Moore was a mishandled center-quarterback exchange, and though Seneca recovered the fumble, the fourth-down miscue gave the ball to the Wolverines, needing only a field goal to win.
They got it on the very first play. Westlake senior Devin Davidson handled a high snap and kicker Nick Koster swung a low line drive that just made it over the crossbar.
"I felt like mistakes were going to hurt us sometime in the playoffs, it was just a matter of time," said Seneca Valley coach Fred Kim. "We had a hell of a season. Give credit to Westlake; Devon Smith, he deserves all the accolades he gets."
The Penn State commit Smith — also known as "Moo Moo" — showed the Eagles why he's been touted by recruiting database rivals.com as the fastest "athlete" recruit in the entire country.
After a slow start, Smith scored all three Wolverine touchdowns. Down 6-0 after Seneca's Joe Rankin returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, Smith finally put Westlake on the board seconds before halftime with a 17-yard sweep, then bruised in from 5 yards out midway through the third quarter.
Senior C.J. Jones tied the game on a 37-yard quick hitter up the gut, but Smith countered again at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, shaking to the right sidelines and outrunning everybody for a 53-yard tiebreaking score. He finished with nearly 200 yards on the night.
"I just told my blockers, ‘I can run past their [defensive backs]," Smith said. "Just give me two seconds."
The Eagles gamely fought back, with defensive tackle Russell Main recovering a fumble by Westlake's Terrance Proctor before senior wideout Mark Henderson made a sensational diving catch for a 17-yard touchdown with 4 minutes to play, tying the game at 21. But they would not touch the ball again until overtime.