Under the Friday night lights, two former Montgomery County running backs battled it out at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.
Jake Funk, a graduate of Damascus, helped lead Maryland (1-1) to an unexpected 45-44 victory over Good Counsel alum Mohamed Ibrahim and the Minnesota Golden Gophers (0-2). The game was played before a friends and family only crowd that included members of both players’ families.
The Terps mounted a historic fourth quarter comeback after trailing by 17 points in the fourth quarter. Funk’s dominant performance was a major factor in the dramatic overtime win that was decided by a Minnesota missed extra point.
Funk started off the scoring with an 8 yard touchdown catch. He rushed for a career high 221 yards, the 11th-most in a single game in program history.
“It was great,” Funk said after the win. “The whole time, it was a fun game, back and forth, and really I was seeing open holes.”
Funk averaged 10.5 yards per carry, the 11th-best single-game mark in Maryland history.
“It was a collective team effort, ” Funk continued, “I’m just the one that gets credit for the rushing yards.”
Along with the electrifying performance of Alabama transfer quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa who was 26-35 for 394 yards and 3 touchdowns, it was the first time in program history that Maryland has had a 300-yard passer and 200-yard rusher in the same game.
“As I’ve said before, I’ve always been a big Jake Funk fan,” Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said about his running back. “All-time leading (high school) rusher in the state of Maryland, local guy, right here from the crib,” Locksley continued, “he’s healthy, his leadership, and he brings it everyday…It was great to see the type of contribution he made today in the run game.”
Despite his team’s loss, Gophers’ running back Mohamed Ibrahim also had a night to remember. The redshirt junior rushed for 207 yards and 4 touchdowns. Ibrahim tied the school record for most rushing touchdowns in a game and most rushing touchdowns in the first half, with all four of his scores coming before halftime. Ibrahim became the 17th player in program history to reach 2,000 career rushing yards.
Funk and the Terrapins don’t have much time to celebrate. They will travel to State College, Pa on Saturday to face Penn State (0-2) at 3:30 p.m. Ibrahim and the Golden Gophers play at Illinois (0-2).
Gotta have that Funk! @jakefunk34 runs 19 yards for the @TerpsFootball TD. pic.twitter.com/Y3F28QVZPM
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 31, 2020
Gimme Gimme Mo!
Count 'em, 3 TDs (so far) in the first half for @GopherFootball's @_MoIbrahim. pic.twitter.com/ybVnCLwsDy
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 31, 2020
