Senior Austin Carter had a touchdown reception and a 60 yard kickoff return against PVI Friday night in Fairfax.
Turnovers and big plays, a season-long problem for the Cardinals, continued Friday night as the winless redbirds played another hard hitting, determined game, but again saw errors and bad breaks sink their chances to claim their first win of the season, falling to Paul VI on the Panthers’ homecoming, 41-13 in Fairfax.
The Cardinals suffered three interceptions, one for a 92-yard touchdown, and a fumble in the contest. The interception for a score, when Ireton had driven to the PVI 4 yard line, seemingly turned the game. An Ireton touchdown could have drawn the visitors to 21-14 in the third quarter, instead the Panther lead suddenly ballooned to 27-7. The Panthers had their share of problems as well, with three touchdowns negated by penalties.
Paul VI fumbled the ball to Ireton on their opening possession of the game, the teams then exchanged punts. On Ireton’s second possession of the game, they drove to the Panther’s 4 after a Daniel Frazier pass reception, but the burly senior fumbled the ball and PVI recovered deep in their own territory.
A 60-yard run by senior Tim Knowles got PVI out of the hole into great field possession and the stunned Cardinals saw another Panther senior, fullback Will Shourds take a misdirection handoff the last 32 yards on the next play to get the home team on the scoreboard with 3:26 left in the first half. Ireton’s next drive stalled and the Cardinal punt put PVI on their own 11 yard line.
Paul VI then drove the ball, aided by 21 yard pass completion and a reverse by Owen Costello, to the Ireton 10. Three plays later Shourds bulled 3 yards into the end zone for his second touchdown and the PAT gave the hosts a 14-0 with 6:38 left in the half.
The Cardinals put together a good drive on their next possession, capped by an 18-yard reception by Dan Frazier, but the drive stalled on downs. Bishop Ireton held the black and gold on their next possession, and after a punt took over on their own 14.
Senior Justin Paige made a acrobatic grab near midfield for a 31 yard gain on 3rd and 14, but senior cornerback Nick Carpenter of picked off the PJ Zingler aerial on the next play to stop the Cardinal drive, returning the ball to the Ireton 35.
Paul VI would shoot themselves in the foot with a holding penalty wiping out a nifty scramble for a touchdown by Carpenter, playing quarterback on the offensive side of the ball. Ireton stopped that drive and took over on their own 34. Paige would haul in another long pass from Zingler to give Ireton a first down on the PVI 36. Ryan O’Connor, a sophomore safety, plagued the Cardinals with an interception at the goal line to stop the drive and end the first half.
Austin Carter turned near disaster on the second half-opening kickoff into a great return to set Bishop Ireton up with field position at the PVI 40. Initially, Carter let the kickoff head for the end zone, but the ball died on the Ireton 1, forcing him to pick it up and head up field. He did, breaking tackles, then bursting into the open, sprinted into Panther territory before being corralled. 7 plays later Carter would convert a screen pass up the middle into a touchdown and junior Joseph Bagnerise’s PAT had the Cardinals on the board early in the third quarter at 14-7.
Following an unsuccessful Ireton onside kick attempt, the Panthers went right to work. O’Connor bolted for 23 yards, Tyler Scanlon for 14 more, and following a nine yard loss, Jamon Cofield went 17 yards for PVI’s third TD and a 21-7 advantage.
The game-changing play for the visiting Cardinals now lay ahead. A personal foul gave Ireton the ball at the PVI 46, and six plays later, the Cardinals were knocking on the door at the Panther 4 yardline. PVI sophomore cornerback Spencer Hayes smelled out the quick pass to the sideline and stepped in front of Ireton’s Austin Carter to intercept the ball. 92 yards later he danced untouched into the end zone and Paul VI celebrated a 27-7 lead when they were dangerously close to seeing their lead shrink to 21-14 with 4:28 left in the third quarter.
Bishop Ireton took over on their next drive on their own 37 but stalled on the PVI 36 and the possession went over to the Panthers on downs. They methodically drove the ball down the field with Carpenter dashing 33 yards for another homecoming touchdown and the rout was on at 34-7 with 11:51 left in the contest.
Again the Cardinals were stopped on downs on the PVI 34. Cofield swept around end and was off to the end zone with an apparent touchdown, but for the second time in the game a holding penalty would wipe out a long touchdown run for the Panthers. Ireton punted on their next possession and for the third time a touchdown was wiped out by a penalty this time on a punt return for a potential score.
The damage was temporary for Paul VI however as the first play from scrimmage saw the speedy Cofield sprint around end and dash untouched 71 yards to the end zone with 3:58 remaining.
The Cardinal reserves continue to play hard on Ireton’s final possession of the contest. Junior Darnell Duckett had a zig zagging 21-yard gain on the first play of the drive, then hauled in an Andrew Latrash pass for 19 more yards. Latrash then executed a quarterback draw and, aided by a key block from Max Sanasack, was pushed out of bounds at the PVI 4 yard line. Latrash capped the 9 play, 70 drive with a 10-yard toss to Bagnerise for Ireton’s second score with 2:17 remaining. An errant snap spoiled the PAT, and as reserves on both sides ran out the clock on the 41-13 final.
The loss dropped the Cardinals to 0-8 on the year with senior day scheduled for their final home game of the season next Saturday when they host Potomac School for a 2pm kickoff.
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