Last November, the St. Anthony’s varsity football season was cut short after falling in the semi-final to Cardinal Hayes. On October 7th, 4:00 pm, at SUNY Maritime the Friars looked for revenge.
The Friars varsity football team did just that, beating Cardinal Hayes in a dominant 31-12 victory.
St. Anthony’s football—now ranked #11 in the Tri-State area (previously #24)—righted the ship with contributions from all of their key players. The team netted 279 yards of total offense, 187 rushing and 92 receiving. On defense, the Friars recorded 3 interceptions, 6 sacks, and one recovered fumble.
Head coach Rich Reichert explained the key to shutting down the explosive Hayes offense after the game. “Our guys stuck to the game plan and did a good job not getting beat deep,” he explained. Ryan Vahey, senior linebacker (#8), echoed Reichert’s words. “[The win came from] the Coach’s game plan. We executed in practice and we executed it in the game. We just dominated.”
Coming into the game Hayes was the defending CHSFL Class AAA champion, averaging over 40 points per game in this year’s regular season. Cardinal Hayes also had three of the premiere players in the league: Lucas Nunez, Elijah Jones, and Sofian Massoud (all received Division I offers).
The St. Anthony’s defense knew that this might be the biggest test they would face for the rest of the regular season, but they were up to the challenge.
On the very first play of the game, senior Grayson Cherubino sacked the quarterback, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Cherubino also chased down Cardinal Hayes superstar Lucas Nunez later in the drive to keep the game scoreless. The Friars recorded three sacks in the first quarter and brought the pressure to Cardinal Hayes. However, in the 2nd quarter a St. Anthony’s turnover led to a Cardinal Hayes touchdown and the Friars fell behind 6-0.
The Friars offense got off the ground and responded as Greg Campisi had a clutch 3rd down scramble leading to a Sean Bryan TD. The defense held its ground and kept Cardinal Hayes off the scoreboard with the combination of pressure and good pass coverage.
About the successful first half, Coach Reichert said, “we were really playing very good football and we told them to just keep playing hard and to not be intimidated because they certainly weren’t.”
To start the 2nd half, Cardinal Hayes surprised St. Anthony’s with an onside kick, which the Cardinals recovered. It was a big momentum booster for the home team. Hayes drove deep into Friar territory before Sofian Massoud was rocked by Nick Lopez. Ryan Vahey intercepted the ball and took it all the way to the house for a Friar score, taking the lead 14-6.
St. Anthony’s would eventually have a couple key 4th down stops which led to two Sean Bryan TDs. Bryan had three TDs on the day, one for 48 yards, to give the Friars a 31-12 lead over the Cardinals in the 4th quarter. Sean said the key to his performance was “finding the hole and hitting the hole, running as fast as I can with no negative yards.”
St. Anthony’s would hold on for their biggest win of the season 31-12 over Cardinal Hayes. The Friars held one of the most prolific offenses in the state to their season low of points, which was previously 35.
St. Anthony’s now improves to 4-1 and will play their homecoming game vs. Christ the King on Friday, October 13th, 7:00pm, at CY Donnelly Field.
About The Author:
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Jared Valluzzi Jared is a freshman at St. Anthony’s writing for his first year with Friar Scoreboard. He is also a member of the Friar Media club and attended Hofstra University’s Sports Journalism and Broadcasting Institute for Teens. |
