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Quince Orchard football defeats Wise in 4A state title game, completes undefeated season

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WDVM) – The Quince Orchard football team hoisted the MPSSAA 4A state championship trophy at Navy Stadium on Friday, defeating Wise 31-13 and completing a perfect 14-0 season.

“We overcame the doubters,” Quince Orchard senior cornerback Jalen Huskey said. “Everybody saying from the beginning of the season, talking about we’re the worst QO team since 90s talking about we will never be able to be Northwest. Talking about Wise was running clock us, I’m just happy that we proved it to ourselves over anybody that we can ball with anybody.”

The win marks the fourth state title in school history and the second in the past three official seasons for the Cougars under head coach John Kelley. It’s the second undefeated season in school history, the Cougars previously went undefeated when they won the state championship in 2007.

“After everything that’s been going on the last 18 months and just these kids have worked so hard,” Kelley said. “Like I said the majority of these guys we’ve been together since February, when we first got back to football. So again, we’ve been grinding they bought in and you know they’re champions now.”

The Cougars jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, with two early touchdowns – Quince Orchard junior quarterback Savan Briggs connected with senior wide receiver and Syracuse commit Donovan Brown for a 20-yard touchdown pass, and then freshman Iverson Howard rushed in for a three-yard score.

Wise, led by Maryland commit quarterback Jaden Sauray, tightened up the game, making it 21-13 in the second quarter. Quince Orchard closed out the game with 10 unanswered points and held Wise scoreless for the latter part of the second quarter and the entire second half.

Quince Orchard placed constant pressure throughout the game and won the battle in the trenches, notching a slew of sacks spread throughout the game. In the third quarter, Vanderbilt commit and cornerback Steven Sannienola earned an interception and in the fourth, Huskey delivered the dagger with another interception. Howard punched in a one-yard score to put the icing on the cake.

“Our freshman year, they won states, we’ve seen it we wanted it all,” Quince Orchard senior linebacker and running back Martavian Davis, who was on the Quince Orchard that last won a state title in 2018, told WDVM. “Hey look, we came back, won it for them. Won it for everybody. Won it for our family, our teammates, our supporters, everybody, I want to thank everybody out here, we pouned them in the mouth. Hey, they’re a good team, but we was better.”