[Baltimore Sun] Spalding football caps perfect season with 3rd straight MIAA A title
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Malik Washington’s fingerprints are all over three Archbishop Spalding football trophies, 33 victories, an unbeaten season and a meteoric rise from above-average to being ranked seventh in the nation or higher, depending on who you ask.
It’s only right that his fingerprints would be all over his final win in a Spalding uniform — 31-7 over McDonogh on Saturday to clinch Spalding’s third straight Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference title.
He accounted for three of Spalding’s four touchdowns, including the 29-yard pass to take the lead before halftime. When the clock ticked to one minute remaining, Washington jogged to the sideline and clapped a hand to second-string quarterback Blake Howell before wrapping his arms around coach Kyle Schmitt. Somewhere in the stands, his mother cried. Washington remained stoic through the final seconds.
But after the clock hit zero, Washington raced into the middle of the Calvert Hall field and unleashed three wild screams: one for each ring.
“He’s the best player I’ve ever coached,” Schmitt said. “He’s one of the best players ever in the state of Maryland. He’s going to do great things.”
Washington wore the symbol of his future, the University of Maryland, on his hand warmers. He leaves at the end of January for College Park. The idea of never again putting on the same tattered jersey he’s worn all four years is too “crazy” for Washington to think about.
“It’ll hit me Monday when I realize we don’t have practice,” Washington said. “But it’s been great. I couldn’t have asked for a better team and coaching staff. I’m so proud of these dudes, everything we’ve accomplished together from freshman year ’til now.”
Washington mostly stood on the sideline as a freshman as Spalding’s undefeated season ended against McDonogh in the 2021 MIAA A semifinals. From the day he took the starting role, the Cavaliers (12-0) have only dropped four games — and not one in the state’s best conference.
“It’s not my judgment to make,” he told his teammates after. “But you’re one of the best teams in Spalding history, one of the best in MIAA history — and one of the best this state’s ever seen.”
Schmitt knew they’d be good after 2022. He could not have imagined just how good. At the end, the coach watched from the 50-yard line as his players streamed over to their student section and parents. All he wanted to do was hug as many people as he could, thank as many people as he could.
“This doesn’t happen all the time. This is really hard to do. I think our guys made it look easy — but it’s not,” Schmitt said. “Even this game, it was challenging for a minute, but we never lost our poise.”
This season, social media attention swelled to cacophonous levels and spilled content creators aiming to get a piece of the newest, hottest thing on the East Coast onto the Spalding sideline every week.
Each practice, though, was for Spalding alone. They held each other accountable — “no drama” was law. Schmitt wouldn’t need all his fingers to count those who missed practice, even for illness. Players with major NCAA Division I offers battled for starting spots every week. The already brother-like teammates grew somehow closer.
“The fun for this group wasn’t the Twitter and Instagram accolades. The fun was football,” Schmitt said. “I know it’s a cliche, but we really were process-driven.”
The unbeaten season marched on and the teams sharpened their spears. Concordia Prep, Loyola Blakefield, Mount Saint Joseph and finally McDonogh all threw better and better at Spalding. Waves of national praise, rankings and the incomparable ego boost of an ongoing unbeaten season — none of that could break the Cavs.
Coaching and unmatched talent couldn’t have brought Spalding all of this alone. Humility glued it all together.
“It’s really been about more than winning games,” Washington said. “It’s about the family we built. This has meant everything to me. No matter what I do in life, ‘AS’ will live in my chest forever.”
Spalding steamrolled most competition this fall. McDonogh was not one.
“We knew this game would be a dogfight. But they came out guns blazing, and I’m not going to lie — they punched us,” senior linebacker Ben Liguori said.
McDonogh quarterback Braeden Palazzo, whose absence from the regular-season showdown led to a 45-0 blowout, stretched room in the pocket each drive. It only took two possessions to score the first touchdown and snag the first lead against Spalding by any Maryland team this fall.
Aaron Igwebe let it fuel him.
The Spalding junior stormed 58 yards for kickoff return. It primed Washington to whirl and dance around a dozen Eagles bodies and tie McDonogh.
It threw Schmitt back to the 2021 semifinal. Then, too, Spalding tried to follow the Eagles’ touchdown with a big kickoff return. Instead, they missed the block and never found the right opportunity to strike again.
For the past three years, Spalding poured its efforts into sharpening its special teams.
“So for [Igwebe] to have that big play and for us to come back and score, I think it took a little out of them,” Schmitt said. “And then, honestly, the score before the half might’ve been the biggest turning point.”
An interception robbed Washington of a touchdown with two minutes left on the clock. Spalding’s special teams hoped to give him an easy perch by blocking McDonogh’s punt 30 seconds before halftime. Instead, the Eagles shoved Spalding to the 40.
Washington didn’t need 30 seconds — he needed four. Two to fling a shot straight down the middle to Kam Miller and carve the distance to 29 yards. Two to hit McAfee in the post and watch him score the go-ahead touchdown.
McAfee dropped an earlier pass on a key down. After, Washington told McAfee he trusted him. The play was a “wrinkle” to a Spalding staple, Washington said.
“I knew we were going to win,” McAfee said. “I just had that confidence.”
On offense, the line shielded Spalding in pursuit of two more second-half touchdowns and a field goal. The defense funneled all of its effort into breaking the McDonogh offensive line down. It hurried and dragged Palazzo half a dozen times.
“You strike us; we strike back. We’re bigger, faster, stronger than any team we play. That’s Spalding football,” Liguori said. “I’m confident no matter how long I’m alive, that’ll be Spalding football.”
Have a news tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at kfominykh@baltsun.com or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
SCORES
Q1
MCDONOGH — JEFFERSON EXINOR 1 YARD RUSH, XPT GOOD — 7-0
SPALDING — MALIK WASHINGTON 12 YARD RUSH, XPT GOOD — 7-7
Q2
SPALDING — MALIK WASHINGTON 29-YARD PASS TO MYLES MCAFEE, XPT GOOD — 14-7
Q3
SPALDING — COOPER WELCH 29 YARD FIELD GOAL — 17-7
SPALDING — MALIK WASHINGTON 3-YARD PASS TO KAM MILLER, XPT GOOD – 24-7
Q4
SPALDING – ANTONIO LEDBETTER 8 YARD RUSH, XPT GOOD – 31-7
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