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10/8/2008-Football
St. Mary's needs three wins to make playoffs
By MICHAEL SHELTON -- Spinal Column Newsweekly
St. Mary's running back Sam Fioroni had 70 yards rushing, but it was not enough as the Eaglets fell to Detroit Catholic Central, 14-7, on Saturday, Oct. 4 in their annual homecoming game.
(Spinal Column Newsweekly photo/Amy K. Lockard)
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ORCHARD LAKE- St. Mary's has gone from the grasp of a state championship last season to now having to win out to qualify for the playoffs.
The Eaglets dropped their homecoming game to Detroit Catholic Central, 14-7, on Saturday, Oct. 4, falling to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the Catholic League Central Division.
"Catholic Central has a powerful offense that's tough to stop," said St. Mary's Head Coach George Porritt. "When you play in our league, they're all good teams and year-to-year it's tough."
The Shamrocks moved to 3-2 and 1-2 in the division with their second straight win over the Eaglets.
The game was scoreless until the second quarter, when Robert Bolden completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Tayler Peruski to set up a 7-0 St. Mary's lead.
Keegan Dupack missed a 33-yard field goal later in the quarter for the Eaglets.
The Shamrocks then struck only 18 seconds into the third quarter when Sam Landry connected with John Jakubik for 61-yard touchdown.
Earnest Thomas and Gary Hunter then intercepted Landry on the Shamrocks' next two drives, but St. Mary's couldn't convert on the turnovers. The Eaglets were halted on fourth down at one point when Bolden tried a lateral to Sam Fioroni on the Catholic Central 18-yard line.
The Eaglets were only 2-of-10 on third down conversions on the afternoon. They also had eight penalties for 74 yards compared to Catholic Central's five penalties for 30 yards.
"Our defense did a nice job, but miscues and penalties hurt us offensively," Porritt said. "You can't have that on numerous plays."
Later in the quarter, the Shamrocks started their game-winning drive at the St. Mary's 45-yard line.
Anthony Capatina rushed 10 yards for a first down before Landry found Niko Palazeti for an 18-yard gain and another first down.
Palazeti then gave the Shamrocks the lead with a 2-yard touchdown run with a minute and 10 seconds remaining.
"Catholic Central had good field position in the fourth quarter and ran the ball well," Porritt said.
Bolden finished with 95 yards passing on 7-of-16 completions and 63 yards rushing on 16 carries for the Eaglets, while Fioroni had 70 yards rushing on 14 carries and Peruski had 67 yards receiving on two receptions.
Mike Padula and Scot Koenigsknecht each had five tackles for St. Mary's.
Palazeti finished with 91 yards rushing for Catholic Central, while Landry finished with 153 yards passing on 10 completions in 21 attempts.
The Shamrocks had 302 yards of total offense compared to 250 for St. Mary's and also had 20 first downs compared to 15 for the Eaglets.
Steve Harding led the way on defense for the Shamrocks with seven solo tackles, while Palazeti had four solo tackles, including two sacks.
Now the Eaglets will have to win their final three games in order to reach the magic number of six to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2002, when they finished 3-6.
St. Mary's will host Dearborn Divine Child on Saturday, Oct. 11 before traveling to Davison of the Big Nine Conference on Friday, Oct. 17 and playing a Catholic League crossover contest the week after.
The Eaglets still have an outside shot at playing in the Prep Bowl at Ford Field but will need to beat Divine Child and get some help.
Last season, St. Mary's just missed out on the Division 3 state title with a five-overtime loss to East Grand Rapids .
But, tough losses to East Grand Rapids and Warren De La Salle have hindered St. Mary's this season as the Catholic League is as tough as ever.
"We're down to our last strike, so we just need to take one game at a time," Porritt said. "We're still a good team."
Catholic Central wraps up its season with matchups against Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Divine Child and a Catholic League crossover opponent yet to be determined.
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