Soph PJ Zingler's 292 yards passing made him first Cardinal to throw for 2,000 in a season
St Mary Ryken held the Cardinals on the first series of downs but it was all Bishop Ireton the rest of the first half as the home team stormed to a 34-0 halftime advantage and cruised home with a 34-21 win on Senior Day.
Junior Anthony Rivers broke a 97 yard run to open the scoring at 3:45 left in the opening period and Malcolm Westbrook followed with an 18 yard scamper to put Ireton ahead 14-0 after a period of play. Meanwhile, the Knights found little room to run in the first half, they would finish the contest 3 for 13 on third down conversions, and punted four times in the first half.
The Cardinals meanwhile continued to attack St Mary’s with a punishing air attack that saw sophomore PJ Zingler fire a pair of touchdown passes and ring up 247 yards through the air in the first half. He finished the contest with 292 yards, pushing him to over 2,000 for the season, a new Ireton record. Likewise, speedy junior Malcolm Westbrook set a season standard with 49 catches. It was another long strike, this one by Brandon Price-Williams for 89 yards early in the second quarter that may have put the game out of reach for the visitors. Price-Williams took a short pass in the flat, broke numerous tackles to get into open field, then the Cardinal track star showed his blazing speed pulling away for the sprint to pay dirt.
Junior Andrew Bladen took Ireton to the end zone with a ten-yard dash with 3:42 remaining in the half and senior Theo Daubresse added his fourth PAT of the afternoon. Zingler struck one final time, hitting senior Tommy Gallinaro for a 39-yard touchdown pass and the Cardinals deliberately failed on the PAT to avoid the high school “running clock” run at a 35 point margin from taking effect.
The second half belonged to the Ireton reserves and the Cardinals played everyone on the sideline as the Knights found some life in the final stanza, recording 21 unanswered points as the young Cardinals got plenty of work and the seniors basked in the glow of a final win on Fannon Field.
The Cardinals ended the campaign with two consecutive wins to finish 3-7 while saying farewell to Daubresse, Eddie Busch, Zayne Bush, Gallinaro, Anthony Rivers, Nick Montgomery, and Maurice Tyler.
Zingler became Ireton's season record holder with more than 2,000 yards passing
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