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10/28/07-Football
St. Mary's strikes early, stifles Phoenix
By ED MEYERS/Special to The Oakland Press Game Photos
ORCHARD LAKE--Strike early, if you can, then keep on striking.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's did just that, taking advantage of a late-arriving Detroit Renaissance team, then pitching a second-half shutout in rainy conditions to win Saturday's Division 3 district opener, 28-7.
"We came through with a great defense in the second half," said OLSM coach George Porritt. "We got through today. It's going to be tough and preparation begins Monday. We get to play on our home field again and that's special."
St. Mary's (7-2) will now face St. Clair (8-2) in a second round matchup next Saturday on the Eaglets home field. St. Clair eliminated Warren Woods Tower, 35-0, in a game played Friday night.
St. Mary's scored first, taking the opening kickoff on its own 30-yard line and driving the length of the field in less than a minute on three fine running plays by Justin Semmes, Sam Fioroni, and Dominique White, the latter going the final 23 yards.
Sean Graham added the first of his four PATs as the Eaglets led, 7-0, just 58 seconds into the contest. The visitors were hampered on the first series as four starters were late arrivals for the game due to taking ACT tests earlier in the day.
Renaissance (6-4) stormed back to tie the game, driving 62 yards in 11 plays with Dana Dixon taking an 11-yard pass for the touchdown and Phillip Norris adding the point after with 5:21 to go in the first quarter of play.
Neither team scored again in the first half, although St. Mary's drove to the Phoenix 13-yard line before Sean Graham attempted a 31-yard field goal. The kick was wide, however, with 5:42 left till intermission.
Semmes scored twice in the second half, putting St. Mary's ahead for good with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter on a 9-yard run. That capped a short, 38-yard drive, set up by an 8-yard Renaissance put that landed at its own 40.
On their next series of downs, the Phoenix again got off a bad punt and St. Mary's took over at the Renaissance 29-yard line. Semmes carried the ball five of seven times and went over from 3 yards out with just 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Phoenix came back with a decent kickoff return to the 32, but two plays later, Suave Lavallis intercepted for the Eaglets and returned it to the 19. Two plays later, Sam Fioroni went 17 yards around left end for the touchdown to complete the scoring.
"I thought a turning point in the game was that first touchdown (of the second half) we got and then the interception seemed to put them away," Porritt said.
St. Mary's rolled up 305 total yards offensively while Renaissance managed 191 yards on offense. The Eaglets attempted just one pass while the visitors completed 10 of 16 and had the one interception. Both teams had 12 first downs, but St. Mary's was penalized nine times for 69 yards while the Phoenix had just two for 15 yards.
In addition to Semmes' 82 yards on 18 carries, Dominique White gained 86 yards on 13 carries and Fioroni had 59 yards on seven carries. Lavallis gained 32 yards and Robert Bolden added 15 yards.
Charles Hollowell gained 58 tough yards for Renaissance while Delano Collins caught two passes for 55 yards.
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