ESPN RISE

LANDOVER, Md. -- DeMatha's Marcus Coker may as well have an S on his chest.

When DeMatha (6-0) needed him the most, the 6-foot-1, 222-pound senior rushed in and saved the day, leading the Stags to a come-from-behind, 24-21 victory over Good Counsel (5-1) on Friday night.

Coker rushed for 205 yards -_ 132 of those and all three of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter -_ to lead DeMatha back from a 21-3 deficit.

"Our team refused to lose. We had to get it done," Coker said of his team's come from behind victory. "Our line was driving them off the ball. They knew we had to win the game."

CLUTCH PLAYER

Through three quarters Coker had rushed for 73 yards and no touchdowns, but with DeMatha down by 18 points with 12 minutes left in the game, the senior wasted no time.

Fifty-four seconds into the final frame, Coker rushed 34 yards for the touchdown. After DeMatha's defense forced a Good Counsel fumble, Coker took his next carry 37 yards for a touchdown. Three carries later with less than 90 second left in the game, the Iowa commit rushed 64 yards along the right sideline for the game-winning touchdown.

"I think it's an offensive effort. He [Coker] goes nowhere without the offensive line," DeMatha head coach Bill McGregor said.

"Sometimes when you have a lead you tend to relax. I'm not saying Good Counsel did, but I liked our second half emotion," McGregor added. "Our whole team played to another level.

OVERLOOKED PLAYER

Michael Meriwether may not make any headlines after this game, but the senior made two big plays that helped put DeMatha back in the game.

With 1:56 left in the third quarter, Meriwether took the Good Counsel punt and returned it 25 yards to give DeMatha the ball on the Good Counsel 35 yard line. Coker took it the rest of the way, scoring his first TD on that drive.

On the ensuing Good Counsel series, Meriwether recovered a fumble on the Falcons 37. On the next play, Coker rushed for another TD to bring DeMatha with four points, 21-17.

SPECIAL PLAYER

Another player who will only show up in the box score is kicker Michael Branthover. The junior put the Stags on the board first with a 40-yard field goal, but it was his kickoffs that helped contain Good Counsel.

Rather than give Stefon Diggs or Louis Young a chance to break a return, Branthover placed every kickoff in the endzone for a touchback. The junior is definitely one of the better kickers in Maryland.

GETTING HIS FEET WET

He would have been the player of the game if not for Coker's late game heroics, but Good Counsel sophomore running back Wes Brown turned in his own top performance.

The 6-foot, 185-pound Brown played his first ever game against DeMatha and did not appear intimated.

Brown rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries _- a 5.5-yard per carry average.

"When I took my touchdown 20 yards I thought they were soft," Brown said after the game. "Now I know what I've got to do the next time. We're definitely getting to the [WCAC] championship. Now I know what their hits feel like and I know how they play me."

WHAT THIS MEANS

Considering the history between these two teams, this game is one of two parts. Both teams have made the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) finals the last five years and with them being the final two undefeated teams prior to this game, it appears to be headed for game six.

Good Counsel had won the last two meetings between these teams and won three of the past five. Now it's even at three games each which if fitting for these two teams.

DeMatha has all but locked up the No. 1 seed for the WCAC playoffs and Good Counsel appears to be No. 2 now. Barring any upsets the rest of the season we should see these two teams again in November.

SCORING SUMMARY

Good Counsel 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21
DeMatha 3 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 24

First Quarter

D - - Branthover 39 FG: 4:46, 3-0
G - Brown 8 run (Hamby kick good), 1:31, 7-3

Second Quarter

G -- Scott 2 pass from Dancel (Hamby kick good), 4:00, 14-3

Third Quarter

G - Dancel 1 run (Hamby kick good), 8:14, 21-3

Fourth Quarter

D - Coker 17 run (Branthover kick good), 11:06, 21-10
D - Coker 37 run (Branthover kick good), 8:59, 21-17
D - Coker 64 run (Branthover kick good), 1:07, 24-21

ESPNRise encourages comments from its users. Leave a comment below. Mike Loveday covers high school sports for ESPNRISE.com. Mike can be reached at Michael.Loveday@espn.com