Quincy falls to Deer Park in final game, 16-50

QUINCY — The Quincy High School football team had its final game of the season against Deer Park High School in a non-league crossover at the Quincy High School stadium Saturday.

Both Quincy and Deer Park were fifth in each of their leagues, Quincy head football coach Greg McMillan said. He also said when playing a team from another league, the team isn’t really sure what they’re going to get.

“These kids always play hard; they have a lot of pride and it’s just a matter of feeling out each opponent and seeing what happens,” said McMillan.

Deer Park won the coin toss and chose to receive the kick first. Quincy senior Andrew Townsend kicked the ball to start the game, sending it all the way to the opposite 38-yard line. Deer Park immediately got to work, making its way toward the goal. A personal foul by Quincy’s Luis Serrano gave Deer Park a 15-yard gain toward its end zone. Deer Park kept working to the 8-yard line and then to the 3-yard line before making a touchdown. The extra point was good, giving the team a 7-point lead over Quincy in the first few minutes of the first quarter.

Quincy let Deer Park celebrate only for a short time before scoring a touchdown. The more than 50-yard run by senior Sergio Cordova told Deer Park Quincy meant business. Townsend made the extra point, tying the score at 7 all, with more than eight minutes left in the first quarter.

Deer Park bounced back; however, and scored another touchdown before the quarter was over. Four minutes were left on the clock and Quincy was behind 7-14. During its next possession, Quincy made two incomplete passes, nearly intercepted by Deer Park. Then Quincy got it together and pushed toward the end zone. An exciting 27-yard run by senior Jalen Spence brought the Jacks to the 23-yard line. They made it all the way to the half-yard line before a fumble on the play, recovered by Townsend, sent them back to the 9-yard line. The Jacks called a quick timeout. When they came back, the Jacks had a fourth down at the 6-yard line with 10 seconds left on the clock. In a last-ditch effort, Townsend kicked the ball through the goalposts and scored. At the end of the first quarter, it was Quincy 10, Deer Park 14.

That was the last time Quincy got on the board until the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Deer Park pushed on, scoring two touchdowns and the extra points during the second and third quarters. Tensions were running high and what appeared to almost be a fight broke out with three minutes left of the third quarter. It was quickly squashed by teammates and referees separating the teams. The referees threw flags on the play and declared both teams committed a personal foul and the penalties canceled out each other.

Starting the fourth quarter, Quincy was down 42-10. The game up to this point was littered with flags on both teams due to personal fouls and the fourth quarter was no different.

One foul at the beginning of the fourth quarter by Deer Park resulted in a 15-yard penalty and pushed Quincy even closer to its end zone. Cordova pushed and made a touchdown, bringing the Jacks’ score up to 16 with 11 minutes, 40 seconds left in the quarter. They were still quite a way behind Deer park, which scored a touchdown and two-point conversion in the last quarter and secured its victory. The final score was Deer Park 50, Quincy 16.

“We had a couple chances in the first half to cut the deficit and couldn’t get it,” McMillan said.

McMillan explained this year the team did not have a lot of depth, so it was hard to substitute players and keep them fresh. He said he hopes there is better turnout next year to change that.

McMillan said the goal next year is also to be in the top four in the league to have a shot at going to the state competition.

“If people judge us by the scoreboard, they’ll think we didn’t do very well,” McMillan said. “The kids made a lot of gains; there was a core group of kids that started working out in the summer and played all year long and did lots of really good things. We improved as the season went on and it helps us for the future.”

McMillan mentioned the group of seniors on the team this year was a special group of guys who helped raise the bar for Quincy football. He noted these seniors faced a lot of adversity by playing two seasons in a six- or seven-month span, along with McMillan being a new coach for them. This is McMillan’s second season coaching for the Jacks.