When Booker T. Washington jumped offsides late in the first half, Montgomery Catholic coaches reconsidered their field goal attempt with the ball resting on the BTW 1-yard line and decided to go for the touchdown.

Quarterback Caleb McCreary dove over the pile into the end zone as time expired, giving the Knights a hard-fought 14-point lead over their region rivals in the semifinals of the Class 4A state playoffs.

It would prove huge in taking the fight out of the Golden Eagles, who had just two first downs in the first 29 minutes of the game, eventually falling to the Knights 28-0 at Montgomery Catholic on Friday.

“We had seen a set where they were jumping on our snaps, so we knew we could get them offsides,” Montgomery Catholic coach Kirk Johnson said. “Then we told Caleb to go make a play and that’s what he did.”

McCreary finished as the game’s leading rusher with 99 yards on 20 carries, scoring on a pair of quarterback sneaks in the first half. No play was bigger than the snap he took with 1.9 seconds remaining to close out the first half with a 14-0 halftime lead.

“He just told me to get in,” McCreary said. “He said that we needed one, so I had to go get him one. He called a good play to get them to jump offsides and we got in the box.”

Montgomery Catholic owned the ball for an incredible 17 minutes, 25 seconds of the first half, running 41 of the Knights’ 47 plays in BTW territory, including 26 in the red zone. Yet, until the final snap of the first half, the Knights held just a seven-point lead.

“They did an unbelievable job, stopping us,” McCreary said. “We just couldn’t get it into the box, so it was very frustrating, but we figured it out and got the win.”

The Knights missed a field goal and had another attempt blocked by Marquez Daniel, finally getting points two plays after McCreary scrambled for 22 yards on a fourth-and-18 play.

“It’s the semifinals in high school football,” Johnson said. “They’re a good team, they play fast, they play physical and we couldn’t quite get our stuff together in the red zone.”

BTW finally picked up four of their six first downs on a drive late in the third quarter, but by then they trailed 21-0 and had little energy left.

“Two turnovers, they scored on the first one, we fumbled the ball, we threw a pick and they just ate the clock up,” BTW coach L.A. O’Neal said. “We played a great Montgomery Catholic team. Coach Johnson does a great job of getting those guys ready. Their defense is one hell of a defense. They’re stout.”

It was the eighth shutout of the season for Montgomery Catholic (14-0), tying a school record set by the 2021 team that lost in the semifinals. The Knights will advance to the Super 7 Championships for the first time since 2020 and only the second time in school history.

BTW (9-5), meanwhile, set a school record for wins and posted three postseason wins in only their third trip to the state playoffs in the 33-year history of the school. O’Neal, in his third year with the program, has coached all four playoff wins in school history and six of the seven playoff games.

“I’ll take my guys any day and twice on Friday,” O’Neal said.