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Schools

Urbana ends Gaithersburg's Bid for State Championship

Fetters falters early, sending Trojans packing for the season.

Urbana senior Wes Garey rushed for three touchdowns Friday night and the Hawks' defense shut down a high-powered Gaithersburg offense to lead the Frederick County school to a 37-6 win over the Trojans in a 4A state semifinal matchup at John Harvill Stadium.

The Urbana special teams also played a part in the victory, blocking a punt and by scoring a touchdown on a fake field goal.

Urbana (12-0) earned a trip to the state championship game for the first time since capturing a 3A title in 2001. The Hawks won consecutive 2A state titles from 1998-2000.

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Meanwhile, Gaithersburg (11-2) was denied an opportunity to revisit the glory of the past. The Trojans were seeking to capture the school's first state championship trophy since 2000 and their fourth overall title.

On the game's opening possession, Urbana defensive back George Van Hove intercepted Gaithersburg quarterback Zack Fetters to set up the Hawks' first touchdown, a two-yard run by Garey.

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Josh Rivera later kicked a 30-yard field goal to give Urbana a 10-0 advantage with 8:09 remaining in the second period.

Late in the second quarter, the Hawks caught Gaithersburg by surprise when they faked a field goal.  Holder Derek Macierowski passed to Russell Lohr who was wide open for a 14-yard touchdown with 31.3 seconds left in the quarter. The score gave Urbana a 17-0 lead at halftime.

"We just did a great job on special teams and that sets everything up for a great defense and a short field for the offense," said Urbana first-year head coach Ryan Hines.

Garey, a Montgomery County native who once played youth football with Fetters and Kris Westphal, scored on a two-yard run with 6:30 left in the third quarter, giving Urbana a 23-0 advantage. Two plays later, Van Hove intercepted Fetters and scored a touchdown to make it 30-0 with 5:40 remaining.

Gaithersburg scored on a five-yard run by Khare Cross to avoid becoming Urbana's ninth shutout victim and Garey added a five-yard touchdown run with 2:49 remaining.

"I thought we lost the game because of our inability to give Zack protection and inability to make plays and catches," Gaithersburg head coach Kreg Kephart said. "We dropped a lot of balls out there even when we did have time to throw it."



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