Good Counsel was supposed to be hosting Gilman in a football game on Thursday night, but it looked more like a track meet. In fact, the No. 2 Falcons made like gold-medal winner Usain Bolt, while the No. 7 Greyhounds were more like Tyson Gay - fast, but not fast enough. After 48 minutes, Good Counsel (3-0) sprinted ahead to a 49-37 victory in front of almost 1,000 spectators on homecoming night.

"I'm proud we found a way to win," said Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy. "The offense did well and we had some great returns on special teams."

Both Good Counsel and Gilman (2-2) ran rampant over the Falcons' new turf field, combining for four plays of 70 yards or longer. Wide receiver-cornerback Louis Young and running back-returner Stefon Diggs did the damage for the home team, while quarterback Darius Jennings stepped up for the visitors.

The Stanford-bound Young set a career high with 152 receiving yards on five catches, highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Zach Dancel.

But the sophomore speedster Diggs stole the show. He compiled 247 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns, including two backbreaking kick returns of 87 and 93 yards. Each of his runs came immediately after Gilman had scored to cut into Good Counsel's lead.

"The coaches told me to read two blocks and make your move," said Diggs, who returned three kickoffs for touchdowns last season. "It's pretty much a guessing game. If you guess right, you're through the hole. If not, you're stopped. I guessed right. I went out and made a play for my team."

Jennings made a few plays for his team as well. On the heels of a 341-yard, five-touchdown masterpiece against No. 1 DeMatha, the junior quarterback kept Gilman in the game with a 296-yard (261 rushing, 35 passing), three-touchdown performance on Thursday night. Every time Good Counsel threatened to blow Gilman away, Jennings brought the Greyhounds back.

After the Falcons took a 14-3 lead on Diggs' kick return, Jennings led an 11-play, 81-yard drive, capped by Dexter Davis' 6-yard touchdown run. When Diggs responded with a second touchdown, Jennings almost duplicated the previous drive, this time going 81 yards in 13 plays. And when Good Counsel went up by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Jennings answered with an 83-yard scamper down the right sideline.

It was enough to make Milloy sick.

"I've never dealt with an offense like [Gilman's] in my whole life," Milloy said. "I took six Tums in the first half for my stomach. I never want to go through that again. … I told [Gilman coach] Biff Poggi he can schedule a different game next year."

Good Counsel's defense is not used to being pushed around. They limited powerhouse Valhalla (Calif.) to just 16 points in their first game and allowed just 46 yards of total offense in a shutout of Mount St. Joseph's last week.

"We had been good defensively, but they made us look like a boy's club team," Milloy said. "[Gilman] scored 35 against DeMatha, so I knew they were good. But they were better than I thought. I have to take my hat off to them."

Despite the defense's off-night, Young isn't fretting.

"I'm not worried about the defense," he said. "I mean, you don't see that kind of quarterback every week. That dude is elusive. That's some Michael Vick stuff he was pulling."

Maybe if Good Counsel hadn't scored so quickly, they would have kept Jennings off the field. Good Counsel's longest drive was seven plays, and that came when they ran the clock out in the fourth quarter. The Falcons ran 36 plays the entire game (13 in the first half) compared with 59 for the Greyhounds. Good Counsel held the ball for just 18 minutes and was out-gained 469 yards to 383.

Looking at those numbers, it would seem Gilman had control. But Good Counsel didn't need sustained drives to demoralize Gilman's leaky defense, which was playing without defensive stalwart Jim Poggi (thigh bruise) and has now surrendered 157 points in four games.

The Falcons basically redefined the term "quick-strike."

After Good Counsel recovered a fumble on the game's opening drive, the offense went to work on Gilman's secondary. Dancel hit Young on an 11-yard slant and two plays later found him again for 20 yards. On first and goal at the 4, Wes Brown (10 carries, 104 yards) ran it in for a 7-0 lead. Diggs' kick returns accounted for Good Counsel's next two scores, and in-between Gilman methodically marched down the field. Good Counsel didn't get the ball back on offense until the 3:24 mark in the second quarter. That's when Dancel hit Young for 71 yards, giving the Falcons a 28-18 lead.

"In the first half I caught two slants, so I knew the corner (Dexter Davis) was going to cheat a little bit on the inside," Young said. "Zach and I called it before the snap. I faked the slant inside, the corner stumbled a little bit and I just took off down the sideline."

The Falcons scored once more before halftime. With time running out, Dancel completed a 22-yard pass to E.J. Scott, who took the ball inside the 5. Two plays later, the sophomore quarterback snuck across the goal line for a touchdown and a 35-18 lead. Dancel, who would later connect on a perfectly thrown 35-yard touchdown pass to Scott, completed 7-of-9 passes for 209 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. It was the best game of the southpaw's young career.

"It feels good to get this under my belt," Dancel said. "This is a big boost. This is what I needed to get my year going in the right direction."

Dancel's only mistake came at the start of the third quarter. On third and five, Gilman's Paul Danko intercepted a pass, setting up a 14-play, 57-yard Gilman scoring drive. Jennings converted two fourth-and-long plays to keep the drive alive. When Davis (12 rushes, 81 yards, two touchdowns) plunged in from the 1, Gilman trailed by just 35-25.

After Diggs tumbled over the goal line on the ensuring possession, Jennings answered with an 83-yard touchdown run. That's when Dancel buckled down once again. A holding penalty set Good Counsel back. On second and 21 Dancel found his favorite target, Young, for a 40-yard gain. Then, after two more penalties, he hit Scott for a game-sealing 35-yard score.

"I thought Zach played great," Milloy said. "In his first two games he was very nervous, but tonight he really threw well and got the ball downfield."

Jennings made one last ditch effort to bring Gilman back, scoring on a 7-yard run to make it 49-37 with 4:31 to go. But Good Counsel recovered Gilman's onside kick and ran out the clock.

"We had some guys step up and make plays," Young said. "We played well together. We're building week by week, trying to get stronger so we can build towards a championship. This is another step in the right direction."

Good Counsel begins conference play next Saturday at O'Connell. Gilman, meanwhile, opens up their conference schedule next Saturday at Georgetown Prep.