Moses Webb rushes for some of his 200 all purpose yards in Ireton win at St Stephens
Bishop Ireton’s Cardinals stunned the home crowd scoring three touchdowns in a matter of minutes on their way to a 49-13 victory over their neighborhood rivals. Junior Moses Webb had his best day of the young season with more than 200 all purpose yards for Ireton and a pair of touchdowns, while Malcolm Westbrook found the end zone three times in the one-sided win.
It was the Saints in 1967 that became Bishop Ireton’s first ever varsity football win as the new Catholic school topped the all-boys St Stephens School by a 14-2 count in Cardinal’s inaugural varsity season. The win Saturday gives Ireton its first four- game winning streak in the series, which stands 10-13-1 over the years in favor of the Saints. The 49 points was the most ever scored by Ireton in the series and equaled the Saints 1980 squad that hung 49 on the Cardinals that year.
Ireton took the opening kickoff and engineered a 74-yard drive behind the passing of PJ Zingler and the running of Moses Webb to quickly take the Cardinals to the 12 yard line. Zingler then found Malcolm Westbrook for a touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, senior Theo Daubresse chipped the kick to a Saints’ lineman who fumbled the kick and Brandon Price-Williams recovered at the Saint 40.
Zingler quickly found Anthony Rivers for an apparent 40yd TD pass until off-setting penalties nullified the play. He came right back on a screen pass to Moses Webb and the speedy junior dashed the 40 yards into the end zone on the next play. Daubresse made it 14-0 with his second PAT.
When the St Stephens offense finally got on the field, it quickly was ambushed by the Cardinals. After gaining a first down, the red clad hosts tossed a pass into the flat that Ned Curry instantly recognized as a backward pass, treated as a lateral in the rulebook. He scooped up the loose ball and dashed 36 yards untouched and suddenly it was 21-0 and the Saints had run only three plays on offense.
A personal foul on Ireton pushed the kickoff to the Ireton 25 and the Saints would capitalize on the field position. Darius Manora , the Saints’ workhorse in the backfield this day, carried the home team to the Ireton 16. Brent Armstrong found Jenai Molock in the end zone for a Saints score, Habliston’s PAT cutting the deficit to 21-7.
The Cardinals seemed to outrun themselves with the fast start and St Stephens regrouped. Ireton punted, Westbrook intercepted a pass to stop the next Saint’s drive, but Zingler was victimized by a Whitaker interception to return the pigskin to the home team.
Penalties and miscues as much as St Stephens halted the Cambridge Road crew as the second quarter wore on and much of the second scoring drive for the Saints resulted from Ireton penalties. But the actual damage was done when Armstrong delivered a perfect strike down the middle of the field for a 52-yard TD pass. A blocked PAT saved a point, but the home squad was back in the game at 21-13.
Ireton continued to wear down the defense with a steady diet of Moses Webb and Brandon Price-Williams. A Saints’ personal foul moved the ball to the St Stephens 28 and Zingler found Westbrook for his second of three TD’s he would score on the day, this one from 28 yards. Ireton took a 28-13 lead to the locker room on a day where the home team debuted its new bleachers and press box, but couldn’t get the scoreboard to operate reliably and had to rely on the officials’ clock on the field.
The second half was more of the same, the Saints struggling for yardage on offense, the Cardinals yielding ground mainly on penalties, which came frequently to both sides. Ireton engineered a smooth drive to open the third quarter have a Saints punt.
With captain Tommy Gallinaro catching Zingler tosses, Webb running masterfully with inside screens and end runs, Ireton consumed clock and real estate as they marched for their fifth score, a 9 yard shovel pass to Moses Webb, his second score of the contest. When the Cardinals blocked a punt at the Saints 5 yard line, they quickly capitalized on the turnover with a pair of Andrew Bladen quarterback keepers and his second attempt yielded a 2-yard touchdown. Daubresse ended his day with a sixth straight PAT and the rout was on.
The fourth quarter saw a number of players make their entrance for the first time in the game. When Ireton put together back to back quarterback sacks, the Saints punted from their own end zone. The kick angled toward the Ireton bench and seemed destined to continue out of bounds. As it appeared a number of players eased back, the ball hopped down the sideline and toward a Malcolm Westbrook coming to full stride as he fielded the ball. He quickly broke past the startled coverage, got two good blocks and streaked untouched into the end zone for a 40 yard touchdown.
Bishop Ireton (1-3) has a date at the Bullis Bulldogs (2-2) next Saturday before returning to Fannon Field on Oct 9th when St Albans visits Alexandria. Ireton topped Bullis 28-0 last fall.
Scoring: 1 2 3 4 Final
Bishop Ireton (1-3) 21 7 14 7 49
SSSAS (0-3) 7 6 0 0 13
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