THUNDER BAY – The St. Patrick Saints learned the hard way that sometimes slow-and-steady is the best way to win a football game.
The senior Saints, leading 3-0 with 1:21 left in the second quarter, called a trick play, quarterback Iene Auger making a short pass to receiver Christian Laur, who turned and flipped it backward to a waiting Konner Prevost to start the charge toward St. Ignatius territory.
There was only one problem – Prevost wasn’t where Laur thought he'd be.
The ball sailed down the field and was scooped up by St. Ignatius defensive back Vincent Fabiano, who charged down field, tackled out of bounds at the 18-yard line.
“I was just surprised they did it. I’m not really sure about the play they did. I just went for the ball,” Fabiano said.
“It really turned it around and we got our first touchdown.”
The score came in a hurry.
After a pass interference call in the end zone landed the ball on the St. Patrick one, Tyler Robertson rumbled up the middle for the major.
He’d finish with 17 carries for 120 yards on the ground in the game, played on the Falcons home turf outside the north-side school.
The craziness wasn’t over yet.
On the ensuing kickoff return the ball was batted from the hands of Saints special teams player Vincent Lombardo and the Falcons took over at midfield with less than a minute to go until halftime, Maric Nurmela snatching up the loose ball.
Four plays later St. Ignatius quarterback Michael Danchuk lofted a 25-yard pass that dropped from the sky into the waiting arms of receiver Makeer Makeer in the end zone and the Falcons had a surprising 14-3 lead.
“I just saw the ball. I looked the other way and I looked up and saw the ball coming. I just caught and saw the ref’s arms up and said, ‘OK, that’s a touchdown,” Makeer said.
Makeer finished with two catches for 36 yards on the day.
The Saints offence was limited to a 24-yard field goal by Konner Prevost midway through the second, quarterback Iene Auger limited to just 42 yards through air on 6-for-14 passing. However, the St. Patrick defence came up big twice in the second half, picking off Danchuk on two occasions. Auger snagged the first, but two plays later St. Patrick punted. Lombardo grabbed the second, running it back 19 yards to the Falcons 42, but the drive stalled at the 32, the Saints turning it over on downs.
Liam Willmore rounded out the scoring with a two-yard run with 21 seconds to go in the third.
The Falcons (3-2-0) will take on the Westgate Tigers (2-3-0) next Friday in one of two semifinals. The Tigers upset the top-seeded Hammarskjold Vikings 16-7 on Friday night, Andrew Romeo and Evan Basalyga scoring majors to end their opponent’s hopes of an undefeated season.
Hammarskjold dropped to 4-1-0 and will play St. Patrick (1-4-0) in the other semifinal.
