All night long, St. Anne’s-Belfield quarterback Jalen Harrison was one of many players to have trouble holding onto the ball due to rainy conditions Friday night.
But on the most important drive of the game, Harrison kept a firm grip on the ball and took matters into his own hands, bursting up the middle untouched and diving into the end zone from 21 yards out, capping a six-play, 52-yard drive that gave the Saints a 21-15 win over visiting North Cross.
The Raiders had one final chance with 24 seconds remaining, but gained only 15 yards in three plays and St. Anne’s walked away with the win.
“I wasn’t expecting to score,” said Harrison, who rushed 12 times for 83 yards. “But my offensive line opened things up for me and I saw nothing but green in front of me.”
The game began with both offenses stuck in the mud even before the rain arrived. Neither team scored in the first quarter, and the score was still 0-0 when a thunderstorm hit with 8:52 remaining in the second period, forcing a delay of roughly 40 minutes.
The Saints offense started its engine following the unexpected intermission. Following a 22-yard run from Javon Johnson which set STAB up in Raider territory, Harrison connected with Campbell Miller for a 34-yard touchdown pass to put the Saints on the board first with 3:02 left before halftime.
“We felt that we could run off-tackle, and we talked about that during the delay,” STAB head coach John Blake said. “We put in some wrinkles, we did make some adjustments, but I think the big difference was that we settled in and put two backs in the backfield.”
STAB took that lead into the locker room, but wasted little time in extending it following halftime. On the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, Johnson took an inside handoff, veered to the right and outran everybody for a 65-yard touchdown run, and the ensuing two-point conversion gave St. Anne’s a 15-0 lead. It was one of Johnson’s 19 carries for 212 yards.
That’s when the Raiders pulled themselves up off the mat.
Two plays after Johnson’s run, Miles Lowman hit Tyler Slash from 51 yards out to cut the lead to 15-7. The Saints twice had opportunities to extend their lead during the quarter, but placekicker Patrick Blake came up empty on a pair of field goal attempts, keeping it a one-possession game. North Cross finally made the Saints pay with 9:45 remaining in the fourth quarter when Maurice Garrison capped off an 11-play, 69-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge and the Raiders converted the two-point conversion to knot the game at 15.
STAB drove into North Cross territory on its next drive, but Blake opted to leave his offense on the field on fourth down and Harrison came up short of the sticks, handing the ball back over to the Raiders. But the Saints defense forced a punt, setting up the winning drive.
“What we were trying to do on that last series was basically set up for a field goal. We were going to put the ball in the middle of the field and run the clock down,” Blake said. “But Jalen just made a play. He took care of business when he needed to. He’s good.”
For the game, STAB outgained North Cross 391-267 and limited the Raiders to just 43 rushing yards. Lowman completed 16 of 26 passes for 224 yards for North Cross with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
STAB enjoys a bye week next Friday before hosting crosstown rival Covenant on Oct. 23.
