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By Andy States
Content Manager, SMAC
On the first play from scrimmage in Saturday's Chick-fil-Challenge -- an all-star football game between the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference and Prince George's County --
Marcus Smoot dropped a pass from SMAC quarterback
Leo Kyte.
That was a distant, if not completely forgotten, memory roughly three hours later, as Smoot capped off a three-touchdown performace with a 65-yard touchdown reception from
Marcus Bullock to lift the SMAC all-stars to a 40-35 win over Prince George's at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High.
"It's unbelievable," said Smoot. "To play a game with this much talent and everybody going full speed ... we worked so hard during the week, words really can't explain."
Smoot, of La Plata, scored the first SMAC touchdown on a 39-yard jaunt in the first quarter, and added touchdown receptions of 29 and 65 yards. In all, he accounted for 177 yards of offense on the day. Chopticon's
Jimmy O'Grady scored three touchdowns, as well, coming on receptions of 50, 6 and 4 yards. SMAC quarterbacks Kyte, of Chopticon, and Patuxent's Bullock combined to throw five touchdown passes.
"It was a real honor to coach these kids," said Patuxent coach
Steve Crounse, who was selected to coach the SMAC team in its first all-star matchup against Prince George's. "Everybody did a great job all week trying to learn an offense that fit our personnel. We had a ton of kids step up, offense and defense. The defense played unbelievable in the first half."
While all-star games are generally shoot-outs, the SMAC defense limited Prince George's to just one score in the first half.
Jesse Henderson, of Duval, rushed to paydirt from 15 yards out with 10 minutes 14 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to give Prince George's the early lead. But it was all-SMAC for the rest of the first half.
Smoot's rushing touchdown was followed by a pair of Kyte-to-O'Grady touchdown connections to put the SMAC squad up 20-6 at the half. The SMAC defense held firm on a Prince George's fourth-and-goal opportunity in the waning seconds of the first half to preserve the lead.
It wasn't to be that easy, though, as Prince George's scored on its first five possessions of the second half. First, Douglass'
Trey Massey scored on a 22-yard run. Later, Henderson's 30-yard pass to Oxon Hill's
Jason Howard knotted the score at 20.
Smoot temporarily stalled the Prince George's momentum with his 29-yard touchdown reception from Kyte, but that was answered by a a 38-yard Henderson toss to Douglass'
Marcus Alexander that left the score at 28-26 in SMAC's favor. The SMAC responded with a 52-yard drive that culminated in Bullock's 4-yard pass to O'Grady, increasing the lead to 34-26.
But Prince George's came back with a pair of scoring drives, the first concluding with Massey's 50-yard touchdown run. The next, a 33-yard field goal by Oxon Hill's
Michael Wilson that put the Prince George's side in front 35-34 with 2:23 left on the clock.
"The mindset after they scored the field goal was like, 'Well, I guess we have to go back and score again,'" Smoot said. "We had to win. There was so much lack of respect for us coming into the game."
It took just three plays for the SMAC to score the game-winning touchdown. After the first- and second-down plays netted little, Bullock hit a streaking Smoot deep across the middle and the La Plata standout glided downfield and across the goal line for the score with 1:12 left to play. Then, for the first time in the entire second half, the SMAC defense held to secure the victory.
Massey led all rushers with 100 yards on eight carries. The SMAC aerial attack combined for 236 yards, with Kyte throwing for three touchdown passes and Bullock passing for the final two SMAC scores of the day. O'Grady caught a game-high four passes for 67 yards and the three scores, and also caught a two-point conversion pass.
"They came back and played a great game," O'Grady said. "They're a good team over there. They have a lot of all-stars, everybody on the team is good, so I knew I had to come out here and prove myself."
SMAC 40, Prince George's 35
S 14 6 8 12
PG 6 0 14 15
First quarter
PG - Henderson 15 run (kick failed), 10:14
S - Smoot 39 run (Farmer pass from Bullock), 5:57
S - O'Grady 50 pass from Kyte (pass failed), 2:06
Second quarter
S - O'Grady 6 pass from Kyte (pass failed), 10:11
Third quarter
PG - Massey 22 run (Alexander pass from Henderson), 12:45
PG - Howard 30 pass from Henderson (pass failed), 8:24
S - Smoot 29 pass from Kyte (O'Grady pass from Bullock), 2:41
Fourth quarter
PG - Alexander 38 pass from Henderson (run failed), 14:41
S - O'Grady 4 pass from Bullock (pass failed), 9:25
PG - Massey 50 run (run failed), 9:08
PG - FG Wilson 33, 2:23
S - Smoot 65 pass from Bullock (pass failed), 1:12
Top individual performers
Rushing
SMAC: Smoot 13-85, Nelson 7-18, Greening 1-4, Bullock 2-4, Copenhaver 3-1, Ford 1-0
PG: Massey 8-100, Wilson 11-60, Henderson 7-31, Hawkins 3-17, Wrigth 7-4, Howard 1-5
Passing
SMAC: Kyte 8-19-2 125, Bullock 5-10-0 111
PG: Henderson 8-18-0 128, Wilson 3-15-2 8
Receiving
SMAC: O'Grady 4-67, Smoot 2-92, Summers 2-40, Nelson 3-11, Ford 1-21, Frazier 1-5
PG: Alexander 3-42, Dixon 3-4, Massey 2-27, Howard 1-30, Storee 1-29, Young 1-4
