DeMatha Football Prepares for the Postseason

Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. [WCAC photo library] 2025, October, 18. wcacsports.com.

The DeMatha football team takes its undefeated record (9-0, 4-0 in WCAC) into the postseason. The Stags ended the regular season on a high note with a 42-14 thrashing of archrival Gonzaga College High School. That win marked the program’s 19th straight victory dating back to last season. 

DeMatha will host St. John’s at the Prince George’s Sport & Learning Center in Landover on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Stags offense experienced a few lulls during WCAC play but seems to have gotten it going in their last two games, scoring 23 on the St. John’s Cadets and 42 on the Gonzaga Purples Eagles. Those point totals were more in line with the team’s season average of 31.8 points per game though their overall output through WCAC play was just 21 points per game.

Through the regular season, the Stags outscored opponents 287-85,  a 167-point differential in DeMatha’s favor.

“They have gotten back to playing team football for each other and they have been seeing the results,” said Coach Luke Casey, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

The DeMatha run game was stellar against the Eagles. Senior running back Elijah Lee scored three of the Stags touchdowns.”Elijah Lee is playing great football and is complimented by [sophomore] Cam Williford, so the two of them have been a big reason for the success running the football. On top of that, the offensive line has been coming together and really playing DeMatha football the last two weeks,” Casey said.

Junior quarterback Tristian Sabb passed for three of DeMatha’s six touchdowns. “Tristan is playing for the guys around him and he’s been operating the offense better and better every week,” Casey said of his starter’s performance.

The Stags defense has been great all season and has been one of the top defenses in the country. They’ve only allowed 85 points all season, an average of just 9.4 per game. In the WCAC, they’ve performed even better giving up only 8.5 points per game.

“I think the defense has played really well… and up to this point you cannot ask anything else of our defense,” said Head Coach Bill McGregor.

In the special teams department, after some struggles with the line and executing clean snaps, they went six-for-six on extra points against the Eagles.

“After the first few performances, what we did was we went back and really got to the ground of getting our timing down, getting our blocking down, and getting our blocking secure… so now we can be better at that and we can be more efficient,” said Coach Marvin Brown, the special teams coordinator.

Last time the Stags played the Cadets, they narrowly escaped with a 23-20 overtime victory. It was their closest game of the year. Now that they face St. John’s again in the postseason, the Cadets’ strengths in the run game with junior running back Dajon Talley Rhodes and junior quarterback Nyeem Woods is something the DeMatha defense will need to contain.

“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re fast, they’re tough,” Coach McGregor said of the Cadets offense. “They have a big offensive line. They got two really good running backs. They are going to come down on you and you’re going to have to stop the run. But they have a quarterback who’s good enough to throw the ball downfield to pretty good receivers.”

Rhodes, in particular, gave the Stags defense one of their biggest tests of the season three weeks ago.  If DeMatha is going to prevail again, they will need to limit that run game. “We got to stop the run… we know they’re going to [run] downhill… we got to be at the right place defensively… and make the tackle. So there is a lot of pressure on defense,” McGregor said.

In the first matchup, Woods showed a tendency to favor the run versus the pass when given the option. A key to the game may be forcing him to drop back to pass. “[We] showed the defense their best pass patterns. It’s the same thing every week.  We break our opponents down very thoroughly… we know their favorite runs, we know their favorite passes,” McGregor said on how to prepare for the St. John’s quarterback.

St. John’s is giving up 15.3 points per game in Capital Division play within the WCAC, but they should not be underestimated with a big defensive line. “Defensively, their front four is as good as anybody in the league,” McGregor said. 

The Stags had a great regular season in-conference, going 4-0. DeMatha beat Good Counsel 7-0, Bishop McNamara 12-7, St. John’s 23-20 in overtime, and Gonzaga 42-14.

“I thought we really played well, we played hard and did a lot of good things up to this point.  We had a tough non-league schedule,” McGregor said, reflecting on the team’s season. ” We played the top three teams in Pennsylvania and beat all three, came back here [and] won four straight league games. So the guys are working hard.  They’re doing everything we want them to do and now it comes down to what it’s all about – the championship.”

The Stags are ranked 14th in the nation by Sporting News, 2nd in Maryland by Maxpreps, and continue to be the No. 1 team in the DMV according to The Washington Post.

Looking ahead to the WCAC playoffs, DeMatha is the No. 1 seed and will match up against the No. 4 seeded Cadets who are 6-4 (1-3 in the WCAC’s Capital Division) and are ranked 10th locally by The Washington Post.

Coach McGregor says that we are in for dogfight for 48 minutes. It should be a treat of a WCAC semifinal game that may resemble one that could have been played as the championship.

Looking at the rest of the Capital Division, No. 4 Gonzaga will travel to No. 3 Good Counsel this Saturday, November 15 at 2 p.m. McNamara was eliminated during the final game of the year when the Eagles defeated St. John’s and the Cadets owned the head-to-head tie breaker.

If the Stags can move past St. John’s, they will play in the championship on Sunday, November 23 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium against the winner of the Falcons game against the Eagles.

DeMatha took the bye week before the playoffs to prepare themselves. The coaching staff elected to have three full practices, three weightlifting sessions, and the team was together five of the last seven days. McGregor says they took the weekend to rest and recover for the playoff push.

The Stags don’t change their preparation for a game whether it’s the first game of the season or the championship. “We do what we need to do,” Coach McGregor said.

For the Stags seniors, all 26 of them, this is their last playoff run. “This… is for them and their hard work and dedication to DeMatha over the last four seasons,” Coach Casey said.

The reigning 2024 WCAC Champion Stags are hoping to repeat.  “There is only one champion at the end of the year and we want to be that champion. We want that championship to stay here at DeMatha,” McGregor said.

Coach McGregor addressed DeMatha’s student body as we enter the postseason.  “[We] need you with big capital letters right, you have to be our 12th man. We thrive off of you, [we need] your energy, your enthusiasm… Please come out to support us on Friday.”