By Ben Sheridan / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
With a trip to the VISFL final on the line, St. Anne’s-Belfield delivered.
The Saints shook off a slow start against Virginia Episcopal to pull away late for a 48-18 victory.
The opening kickoff went to the Saints, and for much of the first quarter neither team was able to get anything going on the offensive side of the football. With struggling offenses and solid defenses, the score at the end of the first quarter read 6-0 in favor of the Bishops.
“Our offense was a little weak at the beginning, the offensive line stepped up to create opportunities for guys like me and Amani, and then we stepped up and came back after the slow start,” said STAB’s Gabe Decker.
In the second quarter, the STAB offense began to find its groove. Coming off of an interception by Nic Reese, a short drive resulted in the first points for the Saints on 9-yard touchdown pass from Nolan Bruton to Decker, with Amani Woods coming up with the two-point conversion to give the Saints an 8-6 lead. The Bishops didn’t take long to answer, as on the second play of their drive Tanner Nau found Dylan James for the 20-yard touchdown to take a 12-8 lead. The second quarter offensive explosion didn’t stop there
With just over half the quarter remaining, on the first play of the next drive Bruton found Decker again, this time for 48 yards, and adding the two-point from Decker made it 16-12 Saints. Bruton finished the game with those two touchdowns and 109 passing yards. The defense came up with a big stop after that and then Decker found the endzone for the third time in the half on a 36-yard run to help make the score 22-12. Decker ended the game with four total touchdowns along with 101 receiving yards.
While the Saints’ offense was surging, the Bishops didn’t stay far behind, as Nau found Pierce Young for a score just before halftime to make it 22-18.
In the third, the Saints’ defense stepped up in a big way. The defense went the entire second half without allowing a score, and kept the Bishops at -19 rushing yards for the game.
“Defensively we all had a job and needed to accomplish it, and once we did, that things got easier for us,” Reese said.
That was true, as the one touchdown in the third for the Saints was set up by a Nick Musi interception that provided great field position and led to a Reese passing touchdown to Decker that made the score 28-18 going to the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Saints put the game out of reach for the Bishops as the offense caught fire again, and the defense never let up. Reese ran for two touchdowns, and Woods had a 57-yard score in the quarter. Reese ended the game with three total scores and 139 rushing yards while Woods had the one touchdown and 176 yards on the ground.
The win gets the Saints into the VISFL Final, where a potential rematch with Covenant could be waiting for them.
“We’ve got to make sure that we stay focused, physically tough and mentally tough for that game,” Reese said.
Decker concurred.
“We’ve got a lot of fire building up to this game, so we’re going to come to practice, work hard, we’re going to do our thing, and be ready for next week,” Decker said.
