On Friday October 12th, the St. Anthony’s Friars hosted Cardinal Hayes for its 2018 Homecoming. The house was packed with Black and Gold Faithful fans almost, 3000 strong. The Friars 3-0 in league play, and 4-1 overall suffered their first loss the previous week in a heartbreak 43-42 loss. to Archbishop Spalding in a non-league game. Cardinal Hayes (1-2) fresh off their first win of the season against Christ The King was looking to upset the Friars and spoil the night.
The Friars won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball in the second half. On their opening drive, Hayes marched down the field and with the end zone in site quarterback Sofian Massoud threw an interception to SA Senior Billy Fitzgerald. The interception fired up the crowd as they watched the Friars strike back with senior Greg Campisi throwing a 62 yard touchdown pass to senior running back Kyle Angus. That touchdown would mark the first of many for Angus and for the Friars.
On the ensuing kickoff, Hayes’ Jalen Smith would return it 93 yards for a touchdown and just like that Hayes had tied the game at 7. The Friars offense struck quickly on an Angus 7 yard rushing touchdown. The touchdown was set up by a 55 yard catch by junior Greg Randall. Sofian Massoud leads Hayes right back to score again on a 21 yard touchdown pass to Smith.
The Friars would answer yet again on an amazing play by junior Mario Escobar. Escobar returned the kickoff 82 yards putting the Friars up by a touchdown 21-14 at the end of the first quarter. Later Escobar said, “I just followed my blockers, they made the blocks and created the holes and I just found them”.
The scoring barrage continued as senior Danny Parker scored on a 21 yard touchdown run which was setup by a Campisi 28 yard scamper. The Friar defense stopped a Hayes drive by forcing a fumble which was recovered by SA junior Grant Gifford. With only 20 seconds and 2 timeouts remaining in the half, Campisi and the offense went to work. Campisi found Parker for 9 yard gain and then hit junior Jaden Jernigan for 12 yards. The Friars were at the Hayes 33 yard line with 5 seconds left on the clock. Campisi dropped back, scrambled to escape the pressure and threw Hail Mary pass into the end zone. As the ball sailed in the air both teams were positioned in the end zone, Jernigan seemed to rise up from the crowd to make the catch. The crowd went crazy as the Friars completed a dominating performance and went into the locker room up 35-14.
The Friars received the second half kickoff and continued where they left off as Angus scored on a 47 yard reception from Campisi. Angus would tack on another, a 51 yard touchdown giving him four for the day pushing the lead
to 49-14. However Cardinal Hayes showed their toughness and would not go down without a fight. Hayes would score two quick touchdowns, a 7 yard touchdown catch by Angel Tamarez and a 36 yard touchdown catch by Smith cutting
the Friars lead to 49-26 they now believed they could complete a comeback. However, the Friars quickly put a stop to it; Campisi broke off a long run for 56 yards to the Hayes
1 yard line. Angus pounded it for his 5th touchdown of the game putting the Friars up 56-26 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Coach Reichert went to his bench and inserted quarterback junior Robert McGee, running back junior Mario Escobar, wide receiver junior Michael Nasti and left tackle junior Jack Weidtman giving them valuable playing time and a peek into the future. The Friars would end up running out the clock and winning the game 56-32.
Quarterback Greg Campisi threw for 4 touchdowns and 302 yards and also rushed for 77 yards. Running Back Kyle Angus had a monster day totaling 119 yards through the air and 77 yards on the ground. He totaled 5 total touchdowns 2 receiving and 3 running. had 4 catches for 52 and a touchdown, Greg Randall had 4 catches for 84 yards Jernigan had 3 catches for 47 yards and touchdown.
The Friars will take on the Iona Prep Gaels at home on October 19th in a showdown for first place. Come out and show your support!!
Alex Rocco is a junior at St. Anthony’s High School, writing for his third year with the Friar Scoreboard. He hopes to have a career in Sports Management and Media one day. He is also a member NHS, SALT, Friar Faithful, Special Needs Ministry and Franciscan Youth Ministry.
