A strong Ireton contingent was on hand as Hudson Sullivan (5) blocked a punt in the 27-12 setback at O'Connell.
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A strong Ireton contingent was on hand as Hudson Sullivan (5) blocked a punt in the 27-12 setback at O’Connell.
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Sophomore Drew Smith (7) pushed out of bounds inside the 5 yardline.
Bishop Ireton’s Cardinals ran into a fired up group of O’Connell Knights on a sweltering hot afternoon that saw the Arlington school dedicate a new $4 million stadium complex to open the 2012 football campaign, falling 27-12 Friday.
“I can’t fault the effort,” said head coach Tony Verducci, who entered his sixth season at the helm of the Cardinals. Indeed, the redbirds easily could have “mailed it in” after falling behind 14-0 with 3:33 left in the first quarter and 21-0 at halftime. Instead they regrouped, and as the Knights seemed to lose steam, Ireton gained momentum in the second stanza to score twice.
A disasterous start to the contest befell the Alexandrians, with their first drive stalling on their own 13. A low snap to punter Andrew Latrash sent him scurrying up the middle of the field only to be dropped on the Ireton 2 yardline. O’Connell wasted little time on their first drive of the season as junior Kamrin Moore bolted into the endzone with 10:28 to play. Kicker Joe Kelly’s PAT gave DJO an early 7-0 advantage.
Ireton got untracked on their second possession, an 11-play, drive that covered 32 yards before stalling on the O’Connell 37.  It was an 8-play drive for the Knights on their next possession, including overcoming 4 penalties along the way, that got the blue-shirted squad on the scoreboard next. After senior quarterback Leighton Dassau hit one of his favorite receivers on the day, junior Earon Settles for an 8 yard gain, Anton Woody sprinted 8 yards to the endzone with the home team’s second touchdown in the first period.
Both teams struggled with penalties, O’Connell would be flagged well over a dozen times in the contest, and even as the Cardinals begin to gain yardage, getting a drive into the endzone eluded them time and again in the first half. The Knights put a 6-play, 60 yard drive together in the middle of the second period with 8:26 remaining and the host team lead bulged to 21-0.
Bishop O’Connell opened the third quarter with a 7-play drive beginning on their own 35, efficiently mixing their strong running game and passing to press to the 19 yard line. The speedy Dassau ran a 19-yard quarterback keeper nearly untouched into the endzone and the Cardinals were staring at a 27-0 deficit. Junior Hudson Sullivan started the Ireton counterattack there however, and blocked Kelly’s 4th PAT attempt to keep the lead at 27.
The Ireton defense stiffened for the remainder of the third period, blocking an O’Connell punt and and setting up BI’s first scoring drive of the season as the quarter drew to a close. Senior Geno Miller dashed for 15 yards on the first play of the final quarter, then PJ Zingler connected with sophomore Jairdan Walker on a spectacular 21 yard pass play to set the Cardinals on the doorstep. Miller rushed for 10 more yards following an Ireton penalty then Zingler dashed into the endzone to cut the lead to 27-6. Ireton went for two unsuccessfully.
The defense got the ball back for the Cambridge Road gang and Zingler went to work on the Ireton 38.  Miller was next up for Ireton and he capped an 8-play drive with his first touchdown as a Bishop Ireton Cardinal with 7:56 remaining in the game. He could not, however, get back to paydirt on the PAT attempt, leaving the visitors in a 27-12 hole. The Knights (1-0) regrouped, and while they didn’t score again in the contest, they also kept the diocesan rivals off the scoreboard to wrap up their first win of the year on the newly remodeled Msgr McMurtrie Field.
For the Cardinals, (0-1) the chance to pick up the season’s first win comes this week as they open the 2012 home schedule hosting the Bullis Bulldogs. The blue and gold visitors will have revenge on their minds as the 2011 Cardinals handed them their only setback of the season when Ireton visited them on a warm Saturday night, escaping with a hard fought 35-27 nailbiter.  The Bulldogs (1-0) thumped St Mary’s Ryken in their season opener 40-0. Kickoff is set for 1:30pm on Fannon Field and admission for all fans school-aged and above is $5.00.
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