Neither the weather nor the Cardinal defense provided much cooperation with the St Stephens/St Agnes homecoming festivities Saturday as the Cambridge Road bunch struggled to a 19-7 win in a steady rain Saturday. On a day when alums return and the campus is alive with excitement, overcast skies and rain made for a sloppy game on the Saints turfed field. In the end, it was too much Doug Vines and too many Saints’ turnovers for the hosts to prevail, gritty though they were.
“I am very proud that we could go in there and beat an incredibly tough St Stephens team today.” commented Ireton’s head man, Tony Verducci. “I was relieved to get out of there with a win.”
The game started as if St Stephens couldn’t be stopped. They took the opening kickoff and drove to inside the Ireton 20, but linebacker Kevin Galloway jumped on the first of three fumbles the red and white clad hosts would cough up on the day. When the Cardinals were forced to punt, the IAC school went back to work on offense and again moved deep into Ireton territory, only to again see the pigskin squirt loose and defensive end Richard Walker recover. Again the Saints stonewalled Ireton and the teams traded punts as the scoreless battle entered the second quarter.
With a series of penalties, the Cardinals would be flagged 4 times for holding in the contest, and a tough defense, the redbirds were faced with a third and 26. Doug Vines, the offensive workhorse this day, would scamper 68 yards to the St Stephens 10 before finally being hauled down. It was two carries for quarterback Mike Larrabee, then a three-yard blast off tackle and Vines had the Cardinals on the scoreboard. Larrabee’s PAT was wide left but Ireton had a 6-0 advantage.
The remainder of the second quarter was trench warfare, as the teams slugged it out exchanging punts. Finally, Ireton found some offensive lift late in the period when Oliver Noon, in for Larrabee, found Vines down the sideline and the fleet-footed senior broke a tackle and scurried into the endzone. Noon’s keeper on the PAT was stopped well short of the goal line, but the lead was pushed to 12-0. The ensuing kickoff resembled a golf wedge shot to the 30 yard line and the confused Saints seemed momentarily unsure of what to do next. Alertly, Ireton piled on the ball but a pass to senior Dom Puglise over the middle took Ireton only to the five as time expired in the first half.
St Stephens came out with new life in the third quarter on both sides of the ball and the field seemed to get shorter and shorter for the home squad. As the cardinal and gold struggled to even gain a first down in the third period, the defense bent but never broke, with sacks from Patrick Borges and Conlin McCallister and another costly fumble deep in Ireton territory blunting Saints’ drives. Coach David Holm’s club continued to pound the Cards and finally with 7:39 to go in the contest Alex Edwards broke into the endzone from 5 yards out and the home team faithful found new life at 12-7.
Ireton came back with their best offensive effort of the second half, but a Vines 53-yard touchdown dash was wiped out by a holding call down field. Because the penalty was so far down field, the Cardinals gained a rare second half first down, but a second major penalty on the same play, a dead ball unsportsmanlike penalty on the Ireton sideline, saddled the Cards with a hefty 1st and 25 situation back on the Ireton 45 with 6:21 to play. The Cardinals were forced to punt and for the Ireton faithful the nailbiting began.
After the teams traded punts, the Saints would get one final shot with 2:19 left in the contest. On third and long, Ireton’s Moses Webb stepped in front of a red-shirted receiver, intercepted the pass over the middle, and bolted up field. He cut left at the Saints 30 yard line toward the sideline, broke a tackle, gave a stiff arm, reversed field and broke another tackle at the 20, then raced back to midfield and into the endzone for Cardinals’ only points of the second half with a mere :43 seconds left on the clock; the game changing play of the game.
The Cardinals (3-1) return to more familiar surroundings this week as Bullis School visits Fannon Field for Ireton’s homecoming 2009, a 2pm kickoff on Saturday. The Saints (2-1) look to bounce back when they head to Randolph Macon Academy for a noon kickoff in Front Royal.
Processing your request, Please wait....
