St. Francis JV defeats St. Max in opening round playoff

SFA’s Johnny Powers (left) and Patrick Devine converge to break up the intended St. Max pass.
SFA Junior Varsity
SFA 6
St. Max 0
The St. Francis of Assisi (SFA) fifth- and sixth-grade football team emerged victorious, 6-0, in a hard fought battle against St. Maximilian Kolbe of West Chester in an opening round playoff game at Episcopal High School. The win improved SFA’s record to 7-2.
The game was a defensive struggle, and yards were hard to come by. Neither team generated any offense in a scoreless first half.
St. Max stopped SFA on downs to start the second half, and proceeded to methodically drive down the field. SFA’s defense finally stiffened and stopped the drive on downs at the 26 yard line as the third quarter came to a close.
SFA then strung together their best drive of the game, as Justin Shields pounded the middle behind the blocking of Luke Sprague, Tommy Kutufaris, Alex Smith and Derek Strain. However, the drive stalled at the St. Max 43 yard line.
But SFA was back in business after forcing St. Max into a punting situation on fourth and sixteen, and pouncing on a bad snap at the St. Max 13 yard line.
Two plays later, Nicky Kutufaris followed the blocks of Adam Klein, Cole Dumont and Johnny Powers and streaked 10 yards into the end zone.
The extra point attempt failed but SFA led 6-0 with less than four minutes to play in the game. After a couple of anxious moments on long pass attempts by St. Max, Shields sealed the victory with an interception.
SFA’s defense played extremely well, limiting St. Max to 61 total yards while recording their sixth shutout of the year. Leading tacklers were Shields, Klein, Strain, Marty O’Connell, Patrick Devine, Mike Conran, Powers, T. Kutufaris, Sprague, N. Kutufaris, Dumont and Connor Crawford.
SFA will face an undefeated Our Lady of Fatima team in the next round of the playoffs 3 p.m. Sunday at Malvern High School.