Rematch sends Cardinals to the 'ship, 26-0

Ryan Scott (4) made a spectacular catch to set up the Cardinals deep in JPG territory.

With a berth in the VISAA state football championship on the line, Bishop Ireton made their case emphatically that their number two ranking was well deserved with a 26-0 whitewash of number three seeded St John Paul the Great on Fannon Field Saturday.

It was a perfect football Saturday and a paid crowd of more than 1,000 fans invaded Fannon Field to see the Arlington diocese’s newest high school rivalry unfold on a playoff stage, one week after the Dumfries school earned its first ever Division I playoff invitation at the expense of the Cardinals.

For the second week in a row the Cardinals grabbed the early lead, this time on an 18-yard touchdown toss from senior Joe Dickinson to Drew Smith. David Cooper’s PAT made it 7-0 with 4:29 left in the first period.

The story this weekend, however, was the strong play of the defense. Throughout the game the Cardinals, who gave up 35 points to Wolves a week earlier, would give up less than a yard on three different critical situations. And, turnovers were a defensive specialty, intercepting passes, recovering fumbles. The special teams set up the first score with a fumble recovery of their own.

With :33 remaining in the opening period, sophomore Perris Jones capped Ireton’s second score, a 53-yard drive when he ran off tackle 6-yards to give the Cardinals 13-0 advantage. A penalty on the PAT pushed the ball back, Cooper was wide left on a the equivalent of a 35-yard field goal attempt.

Ireton would add 10 more points in the second quarter set up by the tenacious defense. The Cardinals stopped John Paul the Great on a 4th and 1 gamble on their own 41 hardline. Dickinson made that decision costly on the first play from scrimmage when he found Sam Smith down the left sideline and into the end zone.

With time running out in the half, the “hurry up” pace of the offense earned the Cardinals three more points with the kicking of Cooper. Following a fumble recovery on the Cardinals’ 28, Ireton used the remaining 86 seconds to drive into JPG territory. With 7.9 seconds left and the Cardinals on the visitors’ 21, Cooper came on and drilled a 39-yard field goal to end the first half.

The Wolves would regroup after intermission but the contest hardly seemed in doubt. After a scoreless third quarter, Cooper added a 22-yard field goal early in the final period to cap the day’s scoring. The white-jerseyed visitors played a more efficient offensive game after intermission but were plagued by a pair of turnovers, including a fumble on the Ireton 5 recovered by Chandler Wilder and an interception by Corey Johnson. The story of the afternoon for the Dumfries school could be seen in their final drive, where a 4th and goal plunge from the one yard line barely made it back to the line of scrimmage.

The win extended the Ireton season to a 12th game, this one another rematch with top seeded Benedictine. The Cadets rallied from a 15-14 halftime deficit to race past St Christopher’s in the state’s other semifinal. The Cardinals will travel to Richmond to battle in the championship game for the first time since the 2007 season. The regular season meeting at Bishop Ireton was a thriller on homecoming, the visiting Cadets claiming a 29-26 win. Admission to Saturday’s VISAA championship game is $10.

Box Score 1 2 3 4 Final

St John Paul the Great 0 0 0 0 0

Bishop Ireton 13 10 0 3 26