Sam Smith hauls in a Dickinson TD pass, one of three Cardinal TD tosses on the day.
When you play a favored opponent, the best recipe for success is to play a nearly perfect game, get some breaks, and make the other guy get nervous. For one half of football, the Cardinals gave favored Bishop O’Connell all they could handle on a steamy hot afternoon in Arlington Saturday in front of a large crowd, almost evenly divided between home team and the visiting Cardinals. It was the game’s second half that finally caught up to the Alexandrians, and the Knights exploited some early miscues to break up a thriller in the making, racing to a 54-28 win.
Bishop O’Connell opened the scoring in the game’s first 75 seconds, working to midfield before senior Michael Galvan found junior speedster Brandon Magee over the middle and off for a 53-yard touchdown. Neither team could mount another scoring drive until Ireton got on the board in a wild second quarter on an 80-yard drive, culminating in an 11-yard TD pass to sophomore Sam Smith. David Cooper’s PAT knotted the score at 7-7 with 11:27 to play in the half.
Three minutes later, a penalty gave the home team renewed life and Magee caught his second touchdown pass of the day at 8:07 and O’Connell jumped back in front, 14-7. The Cardinals counterattacked on their next possession and the dangerous Joe Dickinson to Drew Smith combination connected for the fourth time in the young season from 22-yards and again the clubs were tied.
Anton Woody bulled his way for one yard to finish the Knights’ third scoring drive of the half at 5:17 and O’Connell was back in front, 21-14. An Ireton fumble set up another touchdown for the Knights when Ted Terwilliger hauled in another Galvan aerial from 18 yards out with only :27 remaining in the high scoring second quarter. Just as some may have thought that third touchdown of the quarter would have deflated the upstart Cardinals, Drew Smith sent the visitors to the locker room fired up as bolted down the field 85 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff to pull Ireton to 28-21 with :17 remaining. That did end the track meet that was the second period.
Junior Kendall Byrd picked off a Dickinson pass on Ireton’s first possession of the second half and raced 26 yards untouched into the end zone and gave DJO a 35-21 lead. Moments later it would happen again, this time junior Myles Hudzick would gather in a tipped aerial and gallop 54 yards for another defensive score. A blocked PAT left the scoreboard reporting a 41-28 deficit for the visitors from Cambridge Road as the game moved into the final period of play following another Knights’ touchdown toss. Sophomore Stacey Watts raced around end for 22 yards for O’Connell’s final score of the day and Dickinson ended the scoring for the day with his second toss to Smith for a 34-yard touchdown strike.
It was a hard hitting affair, one with a number of penalties on O’Connell in the first half, and a second half where Ireton miscues cost the Cardinals a chance at the upset. But overall, the visitors had to be credited with hard nosed, spirited play; they never quit, played a disciplined game, and showed the same spirited enthusiasm the large contingent of Cardinal Crazies brought to Msgr. McMurtrie Stadium Saturday.
The Cardinals (1-1) finally return home to officially open the new FieldTurf Revolution artificial turf surface when the Bulldogs of St. Albans (1-0) pay a visit to Fannon Field. The DC all boys school won their opener, 12-0 over Anacostia High School Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2pm, the pregame ceremonies, including the blessing of the field begins at 1:45.
Box Score 1 2 3 4 Final
Bishop Ireton 0 21 0 7 28
Bishop O’Connell 7 21 20 6 54
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