For those of us who were really at the game the following is a ridiculously inaccurate article!

St. Peter's powers its way to football victory over Xavier, 22-7

By Charlie De Biase Jr. | debiase@siadvance.com
September 20, 2014 8:17 p.m.


St. Peter's running back Galo Carrera rushed for 178 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Xavier on Saturday.
 (Mr. Carrera really had 17 carries for 76 yds.)

It wasn't pretty, but St. Peter's will gladly take it anyway.

The Eagles built a two-touchdown lead at intermission and iced the game with 10-minute, 17-play drive that ended in Galo Carrera's second touchdown run en route to a 22-7 CHSFL win over Xavier at Aviator Field in Brooklyn.

The Eagles had planned to throw the ball as much as possible against the Knights, but windy conditions curtailed those plans and they primarily used a power-run game. Paired with Xavier's penchant to use a run-dominated single-wing offense, there weren't many possessions for either side, so it was important to come away with points when possible.

"The flags at the field were straight and the wind was going left to right ... it wasn't even at anybody's backs,'' said SP coach Mark DeCristoforo of the windy conditions. "We were looking to throw at least 25 passes, but we just threw 16 because the wind was too much.

"(Wide receiver) Willie (Dale) was able to get behind their secondary a number of times, but the wind knocked down the pass on most of them.''

SP quarterback Joe Czeluzniak was 8 for 16 for 162 yards and a touchdown. He was able to find Dale four times for 102 yards and the TD.

The 2-0 Eagles (1-0 league) did rush for 256 yards on 30 carries for a whopping average of 8.5 yards per clip. Galo Carrera lead the way with 178 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns.  (The Eagles entire team really rushed for 127 yards on 30 carries for a 4.2 yards per clip, while the Knights never really got the offense going, but rushed for 4.9 yards per clip.)

"It really was a good, old-fashioned rugby game out there today,'' said DeCristoforo. "I think they were ready for our run game because of what they saw us do last week, but we were still able to push them around.''

The Eagles were able to build a 6-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to Carrera's 6-yard TD run and one quarter later, the New Brighton school was able to bring a 14-0 lead into the locker room thanks to Dale's 67-yard TD reception from Czeluzniak and Tyler Zenghi's ensuing two-point conversion.

But DeCristoforo, who said his team was flagged between 15 and 20 times, wasn't all that pleased at intermission.

"I'm very disappointed with all the penalties we took,'' admitted the coach, noting a Sean Wade 45-yard interception return for a touchdown was nullified because of a roughing the passer call. "The penalties kept us off the field offensively. We kept hurting ourselves. But I'm going to review the film and see what happened.''

To make matters worse, the Knights opened the second half with a TD drive that cut SP's lead to 14-7.  (No mention of Xavier on St. Peter's 27 yard line looking to tie the game in the fourth quarter just before St. Peter's final drive.  Therefore, the final drive was 73 yards not 99.)

After the teams exchanged punts, the Eagles took over at their own 1 with four minutes left in the third. Thanks to mostly run plays, (And a very questionable pass interference call), the Eagles marched 99 yards on 17 plays, including three fourth-down conversions.

The drive, which was made longer because of chop block and holding penalties, ended with Carrera's 2-yard TD run on fourth down with 6:00 left. Carrera added the two-point conversion to make it 22-7.

"That's the type of drive you need to be a successful playoff team,'' said DeCristoforo, who praised lineman Sean Kennedy and Will Myhre for their blocking up front. "We had one or two passes in that drive, but otherwise, it was all power run.''  (It was a good drive, but even with St. Peter's outmanning Xavier by a good 6 inches and 30 pounds a man up front, the need for three 4th down conversions to complete the drive shows that no one was getting pushed around!)

St. Peter's defense, led by defensive backs Steven Crosland, Jeff Karteron and Michaelangelo Anastasio, linebacker Ben Wade and linemen Michael Noone and Nic Franklin, held its ground on Xavier's ensuing possession to ice the victory.

"We stuffed them,'' said DeCristoforo. "Our secondary did a great job coming up and making tackles. They played very well.''