TOWN AND COUNTRY – Jack Donnelly looked at his wristband and realized this was the moment.
The John Burroughs’ offense had punted on its previous six drives, but when the junior quarterback received instructions to throw the long bomb, a wave of confidence swept over him.
“I saw the call to go deep and I just knew we were going to make a play,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly delivered a 59-yard touchdown pass to senior Spencer King late in the fourth quarter to propel John Burroughs to a 10-3 victory over Westminster in a Metro League clash Saturday at Westminster Christian Academy.
John Burroughs (3-4; 3-2), which defeated Westminster (4-3; 2-3) for the second consecutive season, earned the first two-game winning streak for either team in the conference rivalry since 2019.
“It was a really good high school game,” Westminster coach Cory Snyder said. “It’s never fun to end up on this side of it, but it’s fun to compete in a back and forth, one possession game.”
The defensive slugfest was tied 3-3 when Donnelly and the John Burroughs’ offense took possession on their own 20-yard line with four minutes remaining. Prior to the drive, the Bombers had accumulated only 56 total yards of offense and two first downs.
“I had all the confidence in my guys,” Donnelly said. “The offensive line played great all day, and I knew we could get it done.”
Donnelly found King for an 11-yard completion on third-and-10, then scrambled 10 yards on the next play to equal in two plays the number of first downs the Bombers accrued through the first three and a half quarters.
“Give (Westminster) a lot of credit. We knew they were going to have good schemes against us, but we didn’t get frustrated. We kept it close, and when we had an opportunity to strike, we took it,” John Burroughs coach Marty Rodgers said.
That opportunity to strike was set up over the previous two games. Each time the Bombers lined up in a certain formation, they ran the ball and King blocked the cornerback across from him.
This time, from the same formation, King pretended to block the cornerback, then went deep.
“We call it a slip. I go to block the corner and then slip off it. He expected me to block him, he got to the side of me, and I broke free,” King said.
Donnelly faked a handoff, received outstanding pass protection, and followed the word stitched across the front of his jersey by heaving a bomb down the left sideline.
King was three steps in the clear, caught it and took it the distance to give John Burroughs a 10-3 lead with 2:32 remaining.
“The last thing I remembered was getting the play call,” King said. “The next thing I know we’re on kickoff. It was a surreal moment.”
The John Burroughs defense, which endured a 21-play Westminster drive in the first half and played 25 more snaps than the Wildcats’ defense, looked to preserve the lead in the final minutes.
Westminster had other ideas.
Twice, Wildcats’ junior quarterback Charlie Beckenmeier found Matthew Hays totaling 15 yards and then located Henry Schloss for 11. A personal foul penalty advanced the ball to the John Burroughs’ 34-yard line with 1:28 remaining.
“The field flipped quick,” John Burroughs defensive lineman Steven Rush said. “I was gassed and I was worried, I can’t lie.”
Consecutive sacks by Luke Hohenberg and Noah Clark pushed Westminster backwards, and two quarterback pressures by Rush forced errant passes on third and fourth down to clinch the victory.
“We pride ourselves on defense. What other scenario would we want than having our defense out there to win the game? Those guys did a great job responding,” Rodgers said.
Defense and special teams ruled the day from the very first play.
A pop-up, onside kick by John Burroughs senior Kaden Bradley plopped perfectly between three Wildcats, and the Bombers recovered the loose ball to immediately steal a possession.
“(Bradley) can put that ball wherever we want it,” Rodgers said. “We saw some gaps on film and thought we could get some guys down there to get on it. We called it and the kids executed it.”
The Bombers were set up in prime scoring territory, but two jarring hits by Westminster junior linebacker John Henry Stream forced a long field goal attempt, which Bradley drilled through the uprights from 44 yards away to give Burroughs an early 3-0 lead.
Bradley followed with a deep kickoff that acted more like a pitching wedge. It landed just short of the end zone and settled at the 7-yard line, where Westminster embarked on a 21-play, 83-yard odyssey. The drive, which included a fake punt conversion, exhausted both the remainder of the first quarter and the Bombers’ defense, but it stalled in the red zone and a Stavros Afentollis 27-yard field goal tied the game, 3-3.
Westminster outgained John Burroughs 123 yards to 15 and held the Bombers without a first down, but interceptions by King and sophomore Sam Levy prevented the Wildcats from pulling away, and the game remained tied at 3.
“It was a defensive first half for sure, but halftime was the moment we all decided we were going to play a great second half,” said King, who had 105 of the Bombers 120 receiving yards.
Midway through the third quarter, Donnelly rolled right and found King for a 14-yard reception to give John Burroughs its initial first down. Another completion to Praveen Vissa gave the Bombers much-needed positivity.
In the fourth quarter, Westminster embarked on a time-consuming, 14-play drive that again stalled in the red zone, but the operation of the field goal attempt misfired and the Wildcats came up empty.
John Burroughs took over at its own 20-yard line, and made what had been a forgetful offensive day, quite memorable.
“It means a lot. This was the make-or-break game for our season,” Donnelly said. “The fact that we were able to put that last drive together, everybody believed in each other and we came through.”
For a photo gallery from this game: visit https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Football/Football-2025/John-Burroughs-at-Westminster-10-11-25