St. Patrick pulls away in second half to oust Superior Collegiate

It wasn’t pretty, but coach Dave Battistel will take it.

His St. Patrick Fighting Saints pulled away in the second half from pesky and underrated Superior Collegiate Gryphons squad to earn a 20-6 high school junior football quarterfinal win on Thursday and a semifinal date next week against the Hammarskjold Vikings.

Rhys Hooke did most of the offensive damage for the victorious Saints (4-2), tearing up the Fort William Stadium turf for 119 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns.

Personal accolades aside, getting the win was the only thing that mattered, Hooke said.

“It wasn’t easy, for sure, we had to fight a lot,” Hooke said.

Hooke was the first to cross the goal line, scoring from 17 yards out early in the second quarter to put the Saints ahead 7-0 early.

But the Gryphons (1-5), who lost 19-6 to the St. Patrick in the teams’ only other meeting of the season, had an answer almost immediately.

Stymied on the ground most of the game, they took to the air, quarterback Keynan Collander hooking up with receiver Jace Knudsen, who broke to the left and outpaced the Saints defenders, racing 65 yards to the end zone.

A missed extra point and a rouge made it 8-6 St. Patrick at the half.

The Saints owned most of the offensive highlights of the second half, Calen Fennell starting the ball rolling nine minutes in with a six yard dive across the goal line for St. Patrick’s second of three majors on the day.

The Gryphons kept pushing and were making progress up the field on their next possession, only to have Collander’s pass intercepted by Josh Tonolete, the Saints taking over on Superior Collegiate’s 47-yard-line.

That led to Hooke’s second touchdown of the day, a three-yard run.

Battistel said they took a win-or-go-home mentality into the contest and the Gryphons gave them everything they bargained for or more.
“We were a little bit sloppy and there’s some stuff we’re going to have to work on for next weekend against Hammarskold, but we toughed it out and they came through in the end,” the veteran coach said.

The loss ended the Gryphons’ season.

Westgate 34, Churchill 6: Hunter MacKenzie rushed for a whopping 361 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Tigers into a semifinal match-up against the three-time defending champion St. Ignatius Falcons. MacKenzie scored on runs of nine, 62 and 32 yards in the victory.