FOOTBALL: MARET 30, COOLIDGE 27: FROGS TWO-POINT CONVERSION KNOCKS OFF COLTS

Final

MARET

COOLIDGE

OK3Sports Football: Maret vs Coolidge

First Look: OK3Sports photojournalist Olen Kelley’s raw edit from the 2023 DCSAA Class A Title football championship game between the Maret Frogs and the Coolidge Colts at Cooper Field in Washington, DC, on Saturday, November 25, 2023.

When the Maret Frogs stepped on the field at Georgetown University on Saturday afternoon, they knew they were a different team than the one that lost to Coolidge in last year’s D.C. State Athletic Association Class A championship.

Views from the Field

Although much of the roster was the same, players were a year older, a few pounds bigger, and a bit wiser to the ways of the game.

And in their 30-27 win over Coolidge in the rematch, that maturity was on full display.

“We’re a lot bigger. We’re a lot stronger,” Coach Mike Engelberg said. “We were playing with children last year, so now we’ve got older children.”

Coolidge came out focused on shutting down the powerful arm of Maret quarterback Roman Jensen, but a blocked punt recovered in the end zone by Raiden Neidert put the Frogs up seven points in the first.

The Colts maintained composure heading into the second, relying on the strength of their running game to break through the Maret defensive line. A 51-yard breakaway by Coolidge running back Malachi Williams tied things up early in the quarter. Jensen and Coolidge quarterback Ronnell Wheeler each threw short touchdown passes before halftime, making the game 14-14 at the break.

The teams continued trading touchdowns into the third, but a gutsy two-point attempt by the Frogs after running back Dom Santoiemma’s 11-yard scoring run gave them a one-point advantage. After the teams again traded touchdowns — and missed two-point conversions — early in the fourth, that lead held into the game’s final minutes, when Maret fumbled near Coolidge’s goal line to give the Colts another chance.

But with Wheeler briefly sidelined by a twisted ankle, Coolidge had an errant snap that led to a safety, giving Maret a three-point lead with 2:51 remaining. The Colts couldn’t make a comeback happen, and the Frogs’ sideline erupted in cheers.

“We all knew we were getting that stop,” Santoiemma said. “We said: ‘We don’t care. We’re getting that stop.’ We got that stop, and we won that game.”

“[This season] really helped us bond together and grow as a team,” said Jensen, who threw for 169 yards and won game MVP honors. “All four of our starting receivers are sophomores, and they’ve really progressed throughout the season so that we were just able to get the job done.”

Circled together after the initial celebrations, Engelberg told the Frogs to relish the moment as a much-deserved reward for their growth together.

“Very, very few times in my life will you get a tangible, physical thing for your hard work,” he said, holding up the DCSAA banner. “This is a piece of vinyl to a lot of people, but to us, it’s that blood and sweat and friendship that got us here.”

Written by Brett Carrington