Showing a new attitude, as well as an opportunistic streak, the Gaels upended the Prince George’s County school, 29-6.
Junior quarterback Craig Costabile had a scoring throw for Mount St. Joseph and senior running back Jeffrey Matthews added a touchdown. The Gaels converted four McNamara miscues into 23 points as they presented Henry, a former Loyola Blakefield assistant under Brian Abbott, with his inaugural victory.
On the opening kickoff, McNamara’s Hannibal Robinson muffled the ball, but picked it up and went 89 yards for a touchdown. The Gaels’ inaugural possession of 2010 with a new spread offense resulted in a punt, but they responded on their next one.
Mount St. Joseph went 84 yards in six plays, capped by Costabile’s 13-yard strike to Samuel Benjamin. Costabile completed four of five passes in the drive, including a 31-yard pass play to junior Angelo DeShields.
The Gaels’ defense got to work as senior linebacker Jacob Mooney recovered a Robinson fumble at the Mustang 31. Five plays later, Matthews went in from 10 yards out, giving Mount St. Joseph a 13-6 advantage with 3 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Javan Carter picked up a Robinson fumble and went 52 yards to the Mustangs’ end zone, extending the Gaels’ lead to 20-6. It was 27-6 at intermission after Thaddeus Moore fell on top of a Bishop McNamara errant punt snap in the end zone.
Though his team was error-prone Saturday, Mustangs coach Bryce Bevill said the Gaels had a lot to do with it.
“It was an aggressive tackling defense like we have. You get your best athletes on the field and let them cause havoc,” said Bevill, whose team is ranked 13th in the state media poll. “They caused more havoc than we did.”
Costabile finished 13-of-30 for 152 yards and three interceptions. DeShields finished with four catches for 67 yards and Henry Sturgill had five catches for 42 yards.
McNamara 6 0 0 0-6
