The Hurry-Up: Kyle McCord and Marvin Harrison Jr. Capture Another State Championship, Jakailin Johnson and Dasan McCullough Fall in Title Games

McCord, Harrison win state title

Kyle McCord and Marvin Harrison Jr. had already been setting records and making history at Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep. They had already been amassing eye-popping career numbers and were already set to become the school's first-ever early enrollees when they come to Ohio State in January.

So consider this weekend another big cherry on top for their prep careers.

On Saturday night, McCord followed up his six-touchdown performance in last weekend's 6A semifinal win with another impressive showing. He finished 21-of-28 for 336 yards passing and four touchdowns, as he led the Hawks to a 62-13 win over Central York to capture their third consecutive state championship and sixth title for the program in the past eight years.

That included a pair of touchdown passes to Harrison, who finished with eight receptions for 156 yards. His two touchdown receptions set the Philadelphia city record with 37 career scores – whose 2,624 career receiving yards are also a Philadelphia record – while McCord set city records with 6,887 passing yards and 88 career touchdown passes.

Watch: Marvin Harrison Jr. sets city record with his 37th career TD catch, this one covering 45 yards from Kyle McCord, as St Josephs Prep stretches lead over Central York to 24-0. It was McCords city record 86th TD pass as well @SJPrep_Football @SJPrep_Sports pic.twitter.com/UeSwIuXmrw

— Philip Anastasia (@PhilAnastasia) November 29, 2020

“That’s practice,” Harrison told Penn Live's Eric Epler. “Me and Kyle take a bunch of reps in practice and try to be perfect. I’m glad to see it come to this game. This is a goal at the beginning of the season. I wouldn’t say it gets easier but experience definitely helps here.”

Harrison had slipped in the recruiting rankings this summer because of some junior tape that scouts were not impressed with. After a mini jump from No. 115 overall to No. 104 this month, though, we can probably expect him to jump back into the top 100 overall after a brief-but-impressive senior campaign.

For McCord, his performance helped make up for last fall when he missed the Hawks' state title game with an injury.

"I think it's a combination of a lot of hard work that we put in,” McCord told Penn Live. “These past four years have been an up and down journey, not even knowing if we were gonna play this year. To have one more opportunity to come out here and compete with my brothers, I think is pretty special. There's not another way I wanna go out."

Now, the focus turns to the future, as McCord and Harrison are gearing up for their Ohio State careers and three or four more years of linking up at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center and Ohio Stadium.

"We've been going at it since sophomore year," McCord said. "Countless amount of hours, countless amount of reps, I can't even tell you how many passes I've thrown to him over the years. It was just a grand finale for a high school career. I love going out that way, and I think it just shows the hard work we've put in together over these past few years."

Johnson, McCullough fall in championship games

It wasn't all good fortune for Ohio State commits this weekend.

After St. Louis' Jakailin Johnson helped De Smet win a 6A state championship in 2019, the four-star Buckeye cornerback commit and the Spartans played just six games in 2020. Their last one came on Saturday, as a 6-1 campaign came to a close in a 23-0 defeat at the hands of Raymore-Peculiar (Missouri).

"It's been a crazy year," De Smet head coach Robert Steeples told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Steve Overbey. "We might not have finished the season as champs, but we still finished (like) family."

This weekend also brought a chance at a ring for 2022 Ohio State commit Dasan McCullough, but like Johnson, McCullough lost out on the chance at winning Blue Valley North's second Kansas state title in the past three years.

McCullough came up with a massive, momentum-shifting forced fumble at the goal line in the semifinals last weekend, but the Mustangs fell 56-31 at the hands of Derby in the title game.

“They fought to the end,” BV North head coach Andy Sims told the Wichita Eagle's Shaun Goodwin. “That loss wasn’t because they didn’t want it enough or anything like that. We just didn’t put the boys in the position to win this week.

“It’s tough because we don’t have a next week and things like that, but as a coach, I just didn’t do a good enough job of having them ready.”

Buckeye Roundup

Here's a snapshot of all of the Buckeyes' commits who were in action this weekend, those who have opted out, those who have had their seasons pushed to the spring and whose seasons have wrapped up. Jordan Hancock and Bennett Christian, both in the state of Georgia, are now the only Ohio State commits whose seasons are still ongoing.

*Denotes playoff game

Header photo: Kyle McCord – QB Collective