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9/20/2008-Football
St. Mary's rally falls short against De La Salle
By Chuck Pleiness
Of Journal Register News Service
WARREN — Nothing was going to deny Warrne DeLaSalle quarterback Josh Sinagoga from getting into the end zone late Friday night at Warren Fitzgerald High School.
Not the senior's body that had been cramping up the entire second half or the Orchard Lake St. Mary's defense.
Sinagoga followed the lead block of center Richie Sciuto on fourth-and-goal from the Eaglets' one-yard line in overtime to give the Pilots a 34-28 victory over Orchard Lake St. Mary's in a Catholic League Central Division contest.
“I knew I was in,” Sinagoga said. “My fullback Chet Privett kind of gave me an extra push to help.”
“Our kids wanted to go for it,” said DLS coach Paul Verska, whose team improves to 1-0 in the division and 4-0 overall. “They had done the work all day and they said they'd get it in there. We thought we could push it in on the goal line.”
There seemed to be some confusion on the Pilots' sideline prior to the fourth-down call on whether to kick a field goal or go for the end zone.
With Sinagoga being the team's holder on field goal tries, he was unable to bend over because he was cramping up. The coaching staff was about to send backup quarterback Steve Laudicina on the field to run a play, but Sinagoga waved him off and stayed out there.
“They were going to bring the other quarterback in, but being a senior I wanted this,” Sinagoga said. “My calves and my toes are just killing me right now.”
“He's a battler,” Verska said. “We had (his backup) ready to go in, but he said he was all right. You can't take a senior out of the game that wants to play so bad.”
The score came after the Pilots' defense held OLSM out of the end zone on a fourth-and-three on its possession in overtime. The defensive stand came on the heels of the Eaglets' scoring 16 unanswered points in just more than four minutes to close out the fourth quarter.
Sam Fioroni picked up eight yards on the Eaglets' first play from scrimmage in overtime. Fioroni was tripped up by Steve O'Shell for a one-yard loss on his next run and then Ben Hayes batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. On fourth down, quarterback Robert Bolden was stuffed up the middle of the Pilots' line for no gain.
“Our defense really stepped up in overtime,” Sinagoga said. “We've got a lot of good senior leaders out there.”
Despite OLSM (1-1, 2-1) totaling 171 yards of offense in the fourth quarter, 129 of which came in the air, Verska decided to put his defense on the field after winning the toss to start overtime.
“I wanted to know what they did,” said Verska, whose defense held the Eaglets to nine yards of offense in the third quarter. “If they scored a touchdown, we had to score a touchdown. If they kicked a field goal, we could score a touchdown to win it or make a field goal to tie it. I always want to go on defense.”
Sinagoga gave DeLaSalle its 28-12 lead, after Andrew Stebens put through his fourth extra point, running in from two yards out to begin the fourth quarter.
That score seemed to wake up the Eaglets' offense, as they started picking up huge chunks of yardage from that point. They got within eight after Bolden hit Tayler Peruski for a 12-yard score with just more than six minutes to play in regulation. The two also hooked up for a 2-point conversion.
That score was followed by an eight-yard run by Fioroni with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter. Fioroni then ran in the 2-point try to tie the game.
Sinagoga (7-for-16 passing, 83 yards) opened the scoring on the Pilots' opening drive, hitting Jim Martinez for a 34-yard score on a third-and-nine play.
St. Mary's struck back quickly as Bolden found Rodney Woodland in behind the DeLaSalle secondary and the junior quarterback hit his wideout in stride for a 70-yard score. The Eaglets' extra point try was blocked by Jim Martinez, who got through the line untouched.
The Pilots' offense again had no trouble picking up nice junks of yards on their next series. On the eighth play of the drive, on third-and-one, Privett took a handoff from Sinagoga and made his way two yards past the line of scrimmage. Just as a swarm of Eaglet defenders congregated to make the stop, Privett pitched the ball back to Sinagoga, who ran through a huge hole and into the end zone for a 28-yard score.
The Eaglets answered right back as Justin Semmes dove in from a yard out on third-and-goal to get them within two. Their 2-point attempt pass fell incomplete.
Just before halftime, Sinagoga got DeLaSalle back in the end zone hitting John Martinez, who came back to make the grab and then dive into the end zone for the 16-yard score with 1:58 left in the second quarter.
Jim Martinez finished with 11 tackles and intercepted the 13th pass of his career, tying him for the most in school history. Privett also finished with 11 tackles.
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