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10/4/07-Football
Shamrocks shock Eaglets
By Jeff Theisen
NOVI NEWS SPORTS WRITER
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NOVI--Catholic Central played its best game of the year against one of the best teams in the state and won the Boys Bowl 21-10 against Orchard Lake St. Mary's.
The win puts the Shamrocks (4-2, 1-2) back in the hunt for the Central Division race with Brother Rice, De La Salle and the Eaglets. It also ends a two-game slide after starting the year 3-0.
"It was the best victory we've had since we've been at Novi," Shamrock head coach Tom Mach said. "The kids came out and played a great game. We got better as the game went on.
"The kids deserve a lot of praise for the way they worked for the last 10 months. They won this game before we even got to it."
Things didn't look good to start the game. The Eaglets opened up a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but that would be it.
"They stuffed our power game pretty much," Mach said. "We went to a couple of different things. We moved the ball throwing it a little and by going outside and inside. We kind of spread them out a little bit which opened the game up."
Catholic Central got on the board in the second quarter when Cory Amble broke free from 24 yards out with 1:18 left in the first half.
The Shamrocks took their first lead of the game when Ryan Houska bought some time on a play before finding Scott Kovanda open for a 40-yard score with 3:36 left in the third.
"Houska made a great play keeping the play alive," Mach said. "Kovanda found some space and made the catch."
The final points came from the defense. A tipped pass at the line ended up in the hands of Joe Kinville. He ran in from 18-yards out for a 21-10 lead with 9:45 left to play.
"We've been playing pretty well against everybody," Mach said. "We held Brother Rice to no touchdowns and lost 12-7. We took De La Salle to overtime.
"The magic is in believing. We had to start believing in ourselves. Down 10-0 and to come back and win 21-10, that's a great tribute to these kids."
Amble led the Shamrock rushing attack with 89 yards on 13 carries. Houska hit connected on three of his seven passes for 64 yards.
Chris Fischer led the defense with 16 tackles. Kinville was next with 11.
With the place packed for the Boys Bowl, the National Anthem was christened by flyover from former CC alumni. Mach admitted the flyover was special, but the win was what the program needed the most.
"Our kids really, really played a great football game," he said. "They wanted it really bad. I'm real happy for them."
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