A Week Of Wins For Springfield CYO Teams

SFA’s Nick Matty is on the run after hauling in a pass from Connor Ringwalt. Multi-talented Matty later ran for a touchdown, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble.

Holy Cross JV

Holy Cross 30

St. Pius X 0

It did not take long for the Holy Cross to strike on Homecoming Day as Johnny Henderson took the kick off to the house for a 60-yard touchdown. That was only the beginning of St. Pius troubles as the superior play of the Holy Cross line took over and controlled the line of scrimmage all night long, pounding a very good St. Pius team for five unanswered touchdowns.

The blocking of Bill Issertell, Kevin Deal, Zach Venit, Ryan Harlow, and Nick Kurko was key to the Holy Cross amassing long powerful drives into the heart of the St. Pius D. The hard yards picked up by Chas Hunter, Brian O'Neill, and Ethan Cook helped pick-up first down after first down to keep the clock running. Also helping out on the O-Line was Frank Leahan, John Taylor and Ian Reger.

The defense gave all they had to put up their first shutout of the season. Tommy Toal played very well from the safety spot, helping to shut down the St. Pius ground attack. Nate Lohr, Jason Estep, Nate Shimkutis and Jake Gindhart, all helped to insure the zero for the defense.

Also on the field this night after a long time was the return of Christian Lane to the gridiron and what an impact on the field, as he recorded his first Holy Cross sack of the year. Daulton Dephillipo anchored what was a very good night on the defensive line along with Johnny Hally playing a very physical presence.

The Crusaders will battle with St. Gabe's on Sunday for the division title.

Holy Cross Varsity

Holy Cross 26

St. Pius X 6

On a chilly Friday night under the lights at Scullion Field Holy Cross defeated St. Pius X on Homecoming to remain in the playoff hunt.

Holy Cross drove the opening kickoff the length of the field. Mostly off of the carries of hard- running Brad Murphy and Jeff Govanicci, then capped off with a 12-yardsweep for a touchdown by Dave Licalzi.

Holy Cross defense forced a quick three and out, but the punt was mishandled and that led to the only St. Pius score.

With 23 seconds left in the half, the Crusaders scored on a one-yard sneak by Quarterback Bill Ryan.

The Holy Cross team came out for the second half fired up after a great halftime performance by the Holy Cross Cheerleaders and a homecoming tradition of the eighth grade boys presenting their mothers with roses.

The St. Pius offense was shutdown in the second half by a swarming Holy Cross defense led by Matt Bilotta with 12 tackles and Ryan Fox with great pass coverage, while the offense added two touchdowns behind the blocking of Joe Martin and Kyle D'Angelo.

The big homecoming win over a very good St. Pius X team leaves Holy Cross at 4 and 1 in the division and in great position for a playoff spot.

St. Francis JV

SFA 21

OLC 0

The St. Francis of Assisi (SFA) fifth and sixth grade football team scored all its points in the first half and defeated Our Lady of Charity (OLC) on a blustery Homecoming Day.

SFA's record remains unblemished at 6-0.

SFA jumped out of the chute quickly by scoring on two of its first three offensive plays. After receiving the opening kickoff, Kyle Long swept around right end for twenty yards on the first play from scrimmage, and on the next play swept around left end for a 32-yard touchdown. David Strawley drilled the extra point between the uprights and SFA led 8-0.

On the next possession, Andrew Paulus rambled 54-yards for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed, but SFA was on top 14-0.

SFA tacked on its final touchdown in the second quarter when Nick Matty scampered off tackle into the end zone from a yard out. A Connor Ringwalt-to-Matty 25-yard pass to the one-yard line set up the touchdown. Ringwalt then connected with Paulus for the extra point and the scoring for the game was complete at 21-0.

Offensive linemen Matty, Chris Delaney, Joe Kennedy, Jared Morris, Michael Ward, Chris Alfonsi, Joey Radico, Kevin McKeon, Connor Sadoff, Jerry Curran and Strawley opened the running lanes for the three scoring drives.

SFA's defense throttled OLC, allowing only one first down, 16 total yards and forcing four turnovers en route to recording its sixth shutout of the year.

Leading tacklers were McKeon, Curran, Paulus, Morris, Ward, Strawley, Long, Sadoff, Andrew Pickett and Greg Tamaccio.

Matty intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, and Strawley and Sadoff also recovered fumbles.

SFA will travel to Haverford Friday to take on unbeaten St. Denis at 8 p.m.