Hobe Springs Eternal, Football 2011

OCT. 7
CATHOLIC AAAA
Roman 35, Judge 14
This is a rookie report, so go easy on me. This is being written after suffering through a crushing Phillies defeat. I got hogtied into writing this by one of my best friends, Roman basketball coach Chris McNesby, and Tom "Pucklehead" McKenna (who we don't admit is part of Roman's basketball staff). Puck came up to me as I was bringing my father onto the field and greeted me with "Yo, Hob, yo gotta do story on dis game. Deadwine 9:30, so Ted want you to wite story" (I'm trying to write in Puck-speak.) Anyway, it was a beautiful night for football at Charles Martin Memorial Stadium at Northeast High School. This was Roman's second game here in six days after a heartbreaking 23-21 defeat at the hands of La Salle. The question around the Roman faithful was how would the Cahillites come out against a Father Judge team that had just come off of a 24-14 dismantling of St. Joe's Prep. As the game began, both teams exchanged three and outs before Roman began to gain momentum. Jr. QB Mike Keir (15-22, 188 yards, 2TD, 0 INT), sr. RB/CB Marcus Kelly (27-220, and jr. WR Will Fuller (6-89, 1 TD) set the pace for Roman. Roman put together a nice 90-yard drive together with Kelly plunging in from the 1. After Judge mounted a nice drive after starting from their own 15-yard, Judge QB Rob Daniels (10-27, 198 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT) was intercepted at the goal line by Fuller, who made a great play adjusting to the ball. Fuller might be one of the best all-around football players I have seen since Marvin Harrison ('91). Anyway, the officials debated whether Fuller's momentum had carried him into the end zone or if he intercepted the ball at the 1-yard line. I will admit it was tough to tell whether the call was correct., and in my totally biased opinion, I made sure that I voiced my opinion from the sideline. Nonetheless, Roman was awarded possession at their own 1-yard line. This could have been a momentum shift if Judge held their own. Through Keir's short out routes to Fuller and Kelly's running, Roman was faced with a 1st and 10 at their own 13. Faster than you can blink, Marcus Kelly blasted off the right side, cut hard in front of a Judge linebacker, and ran through two defensive backs and down the right sideline for an 87-yard touchdown. Give the Crusaders tons of credit, for coach Tom Coyle's men marched right down the field behind tailback Raul Quinones (17-63) and the passing of Daniels to receivers Tim Mills (3-68), Shawn Hartigan (1-14) and John Landis (2-15). Daniels connected on a 22-yard fade route down the right sideline for a Judge touchdown with 3:16 remaining in the first half. Once again, the Cahillites regrouped and marched back down the field. No big plays to speak of-just small chunks of yardage in a methodical drive. With Roman coach Joe McCourt calling the plays at the line of scrimmage in a no huddle, the 6'3" Keir throws a terrific ball. Roman's final score of the half came when Keir found sr. WR/S Taishan Tucker at the 4 after rolling out from the 5 and Tucker making a spin move to get into the end zone right before halftime. A squib quick that clanked off of a Judge up man gave Roman the ball back with 38 seconds left and a timeout. Roman would advance down to the Crusader 20, but an intentional grounding call on Keir and a sack ended any chance of additional Cahillite points. The first half ended with Roman up 21-7. The second half opened with Judge returning the favor with a squib kick that bounced off of a Roman helmet and was recovered by Judge. Even though it is not quite the holiday season, the Crusaders must have been in the spirit of giving, because a Judge fumble was recovered on the next play by Roman at midfield. Then, Roman again went to their record-setting receiver, Will Fuller. Mike Keir connected with Fuller on a 7-yard fade with just under 11 minutes to go in the third. Before the cheers could subside on the Roman sideline, Quinones received the kickoff and blasted up the middle between the hashmarks with only the kicker to beat. His touchdown with 10:14 to go in the third quarter gave the Judge faithful some life with Roman 28-14. Roman would attempt to go into a ball control offense in the late third and fourth quarter, and Coach McCourt mentioned in his talk to the team afterward that their execution had to improve. Give credit to the Roman defense for not allowing Judge to gain any steam, with Roman's Fuller intercepting his second pass in the second half. As usual, the Crusaders continued to play hard as always. The game was not cemented away until sr. DB Chris Cruz intercepted an out pattern and raced 33 yards to the end zone to put Roman ahead 35-14. Even as a Roman guy, I must give credit to Judge QB Rob Daniels, who showed great poise under intense pressure from Roman's front four. Quinones also ran extremely hard, especially considering that his backfield mate Matt Smalley was bothered and limited by an ankle injury. Judge LB Shawn Hartigan seemed to be all over the field. All in all, it was a very good night to be wearing purple and gold and a VERY BAD night to be wearing Phillies red. As the second half rolled along, you could see all kinds of folks checking their phones for updates from the Phillies. Sadly, there were many more hits on the field at Northeast than there were in the Fightins' dugout. Roman will take on a MUCH improved Ryan team next Friday night at Northeast. Hope that my first report was at least readable.