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Bishop McNamara football coach Bryce Bevill said his team would need to play a perfect game in order to defeat No. 1 seed Good Counsel Friday in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference semifinals.

His fourth-seeded Mustangs fell short of that lofty goal. In a 45-6 Good Counsel win, they committed five turnovers, three resulting in defensive touchdowns. The Falcons will now face second-seeded DeMatha (9-2), which defeated St. John's in the other semifinal, Saturday at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis for the WCAC championship.

"Against a very good team like that, you can't make turnovers," said Bevill. "Us turning the ball over, giving them scores, giving them a short field, you can't do that. You can't beat yourself, and we helped them out. We helped them beat us tonight."

Although it's hard to tell by looking at the score, Good Counsel didn't have its best game of the season, either. Numerous penalties and struggles on the offensive line plagued the Falcons throughout much of Friday's contest. But one big play after another helped them overcome that lack of quality execution.

"Give them a lot of credit," Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy said. "They played hard and made us look kind of bad. They did a lot of good things, and we've got a lot of work to do."

The first of those big plays came with 7 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter. Good Counsel defensive back Mike Wallace grabbed a tipped pass out of the air and rambled 34 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. McNamara (5-6) wideout Jerome Couplin III successfully got under a low pass from quarterback Kevin Clark, but in doing so flipped the ball up in the air, and Wallace swooped in for the interception.

"I had a rocky start, but then I redeemed myself," said Wallace. "I've been waiting on that [an interception for a touchdown] all year long."

The University of Maryland-bound halfback Caleb Porzel (9 carries, 133 yards) made the score 24-0 on an electrifying 76-yard punt return with 5:30 to go in the half.

"It was a miserable day, but we can't let the weather affect us," said Porzel. "We just had to play our football. We did have trouble getting out but once we started getting used to the weather, we kind of settled down."

In the second half, Jenkins stepped in front of a James pass and returned it 32 yards for a 31-6 lead three minutes into the second half. Porzel struck again on his team's next possession, turning a draw into a 62-yard scoring jaunt.

"I couldn't ask for better blockers," Porzel said. "They were opening up holes left and right. I love them all."

Good Counsel linebacker Chris Pitsenberger finished the game's scoring on McNamara's next possession, recovering a fumble by James in the end zone.