Bishop Ireton’s Cardinals came after the Knights of Bishop O’Connell Friday afternoon like they had taken their lunch money, peppering the keeper early and often as sophomore Spencer Amarantides scored twice in the game’s opening 8 minutes. The stunned Arlington visitors had no answer and when junior Elliot Fantino pushed the host team out to a 3-0 lead there was smiles all around Fannon Field with 20 minutes left in the first half.
The tide turned in a moment after the Knights finally got on the board. A defense pass somehow got up in the air and over the head of the Ireton keeper and in little less than a minute the 3-0 advantage was cut to 3-2, one of two defensive miscues that would show up on the guest’s side of the ledger. Fantino, however, would strike again to steady the surprised Cardinals and go into halftime with a 4-2 lead that no one in attendance believed was quite safe enough at that point.
Bishop O’Connell would get on the board again midway through the final half, and with 9 minutes to go, found the equalizer at 4-4. The teams settled into jabs into the offensive zones, but each time the other collapsed on the ball and cleared to center, focusing on denying goals rather than risking a mistake that could cost a goal.
It was a sour outcome for Coach Jon Norem’s Cardinals who were on the cusp of their first conference win over their long time rivals. The team heads on the road to St Johns on Tuesday before returning home next Friday night for senior night during the festivities surrounding homecoming 2011 and a visit from the Falcons of Good Counsel.
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