McGeehan Kicks Maryland Past Pennsylvania
Written by: Billy Splain on June 16, 2018.
Pennsylvania’s three-game winning streak in the Big 33 Football Classic got kicked to the curb Saturday by the left foot of Cooper McGeehan.
McGeehan’s 37-yard field goal with 10.5 seconds remaining shoved Maryland to an appropriate 9-6 victory over Pa. at Landis Field.
The visitors were a shade faster, and certainly a bit more determined, in the 61st version of the all-star event.
And it was McGeehan’s third true kick on a beautiful night for coach Reggie White’s upstart.
“The drive came together and they put us in field position to win,” said White about his team’s final drive. “I told everybody to not say anything to Cooper. We talked to him already.”
However, on second-and-goal, Emge targeted State College receiver Brandon Clark in the corner, only to watch Maryland DB Brandon Savage come down with it for a touchback.
The rest belonged to Maryland, who started the game-winning drive seconds into the final quarter.
The 15th play of the series was McGeehan’s game-winning kick. Pa. ran two plays from scrimmage in the final 12 minutes, the last a Marcus McCray heave that just missed Anderson-Butts in the end zone as time expired.
Montgomery Blair’s Rudy Ngougni collected two sacks for the victors as Pa. was limited to 13 net rushing yards on 18 attempts. Savage garnered MVP honors for the visitors. QB Kendall Bonner of Quince Orchard led the Maryland offense, completing 7-of-16 for 113 yards.
For Pa., Hilling was named MVP, although the kicker did not play in the second half. Hilling injured his right knee when he was hit a split-second after his record kick.
“This win means the world, man,” White said. “If you did a power five in the states of high school football, Pennsylvania would be in the five. It’s a great state for football and we played very well today.”
