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10/22/06-Football
Eaglets beat Shamrocks in Prep Bowl wildcard
By Jeff Stearns
DETROIT--For the second time this season, and by an identical score, 28-7, Orchard Lake St. Mary's defeated Novi Detroit Catholic Central in the Catholic League's Prep Bowl wildcard game.
It took the Eaglets most of the first quarter to get the offense untracked, and it took a 75 yard punt return by sophomore Tayler Peruski to put St. Mary's in the red zone with 38 second left in the quarter. Three plays later, with 11:54 left in the second, senior quarterback Justin Siller connected with senior running back Chris Mitchell on a 9-yard screen pass to open the scoring.
The Eaglet defense stopped Catholic Central with a 3-and-out series, and following runs by Siller and fullback Blair Hollis, Mitchell took a 3rd down pitch from Siller and went 65 yards for St. Mary's second score with 7:18 left in the half.
St. Mary's threatened a third time before halftime. Siller connected with senior tight end Pat Carroll on a post pattern for 18 yards and also ran for 17, but his second down pass from the Shamrock 24 was intercepted by Dustin Hess. The Eaglet defense held Catholic Central to another 3-and-out, and the half ended with St. Mary's stalled on their own 36.
The Eaglets took the second half kickoff and went 51 yards in 11 plays, taking 5:09 off the clock, but Sean Graham's field goal try from the Shamrock 8 was blocked.
The Shamrocks then mounted their best offensive drive of the game, going 76 yards in 14 plays, with quarterback Chris Cagle throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jared Morris to bring Catholic Central to within seven with 2:09 left in the third quarter.
After a touchback on the kickoff, St. Mary's drove the ball 80 yards in 13 plays, highlighted by a 46-yard completion from quarterback Siller to senior wideout Taurian Washington. On second-and-goal from the Shamrock 1-yard line, running back Blair Hollis went airborne to score the Eaglets' third touchdown of the day.
At this point Catholic Central refused to roll over and quit, taking the ensuing kickoff with 9:54 left. After a sack by Jason Semmes and Blair Hollis and pass break-up by Dionte Allen, Shamrock quarterback completed a 30-yard pass on 4th down to Ryan Houska to the Eaglet 20-yard line to keep Catholic Central alive. The Eaglet defense bent but refused to break, getting another sack. But after a personal foul penalty gave the Shamrocks a first down on the Eaglet 12, the defense stepped up and stopped Catholic Central on two successive runs, setting up a third-and-6 from the St. Mary's 8. Catholic Central tried a bit of trickery, with Cagle handing off to running back Cory Ambie for a halfback-pass, but junior linebacker Steve Settimo intercepted the pass, returning it 95 yards for the game-sealing touchdown. It was the Eaglets' longest interception return for a touchdown since 1999.
Pat Carroll intercepted a Shamrock last-gasp pass at the Eaglet 39 and returned it to the Catholic Central 19 where junior backup quarterback Kris Morris ran out the clock.
The Eaglets finished the regular season with a record of 7-2, while Catholic Central finished 4-5, missing the state playoffs for a second consecutive year.
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