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It was really quite simple for the Frederick Douglass High School football team. Win Saturday and go to the playoffs. Lose Saturday and get ready for 2009.

But winning against Route 301 rival Gwynn Park, which already had secured a playoff spot, was no simple task.

On the Eagles' first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Richard Barber heaved a 50-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Maurco Bradley, set up by a Christian Clark 35-yard punt return.

That's what Douglass brought to the table Saturday – big plays all day long.

Barber and Bradley connected two more times for 20- and 26-yard touchdown passes. In all, Bradley had five catches for 170 yards. Clark added a solid block of an Everett Weldon punt deep in Yellow Jackets' territory three minutes into the second quarter that resulted in a safety when the ball rolled out of the end zone.

Final totals: Douglass 26, Gwynn Park 12. Douglass captured the No. 3 seed in the 2A South Region playoffs and will travel to Waldorf to face second-seeded North Point. Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Gwynn Park blew a chance to secure the No. 2 seed and a home game in the opening round, and now must travel to Clarksville to take on defending state champion River Hill. Both semifinal games are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

Saturday's result also earned Douglass and Gwynn Park co-ownership of the County 3A/2A/1A League title with Friendly, as all three went 7-1 in the league and 8-2 overall.

The traditionally run-minded Eagles did just the opposite Saturday.

"We're not a passing team, but it's what the defense gives us," said Douglass coach J.C. Pinkney. "If we play a defense who brings a lot of pressure and a lot of heat, it only makes sense to throw the ball a little more than running."

And Barber did that, completing 10 of 15 passes for 229 yards and the three scores to Bradley.

"We watched films on them all week and we knew their corners are very aggressive on the run, so we added to our game to come out passing," said Bradley, who also had a three-touchdown game in a Week 6 win against Surrattsville. "They know we're not really a passing team, so we tried to catch them off guard."

Clark's blocked punt was a backbreaker for Gwynn Park. Clark got a good jump off the line and solidly swatted the ball away with a popping sound that could be heard down the Douglass sideline.

"[The player in front of me] acted like he didn't want to block me," said Clark, fully recovered from a right knee injury suffered in a Week 5 loss to Friendly. "I knocked him down and I dove for the punter and I blocked it. I tried to recover it, but it went out of the back of the end zone."

Gwynn Park's offense could only counter with a one-yard touchdown run from Khalek Shepherd and a 15-yard scoring run from Nygee Carmichael. Quarterback Lavaughn Hughes added a game-high 84 yards on 15 carries. Gwynn Park ran 17 more offensive plays than Douglass and nearly doubled the Eagles in first downs, but the Yellow Jackets never took control of the game.

"Douglass definitely came to play, they were more focused than we were," said Gwynn Park coach Danny Hayes. "It was one of those weeks. We weren't focused."

With its season on the line, Douglass kept to the task from beginning to end.

"It was pressure, big pressure," said Clark. "We play hard, but haven't finished games this year. That's the only problem we've had is finishing, and we finished this one. That's what it's all about."

"Every game has been a playoff for us since Fort Hill because after we lost that game [on Oct. 17] we couldn't afford to lose any more and get in the playoffs," said Pinkney. "We weren't counting on anybody to lose. If we did our job, then we controlled our own destiny." 

E-mail Adam Rubenstein at arubenstein@gazette.net.