Coming into today, the Archbishop Carroll Patriots were riding an 0-17 streak in Philadelphia Catholic League action. After today’s win against West Catholic, the Pats started a new streak and, hopefully, another step in the right direction as the club continues to turn its past misfortunes around.
The game at the South Philadelphia Supersite did not start well for Carroll. After an opening drive fumble by the Pats, West Catholic marched downfield and scored the opening touchdown of the game, making it 6-0 Burrs.
Carroll promptly struck back on the next drive as quarterback Jay Boyd ran it in from two yards out, giving the Patriots a 7-6 lead headed into the second quarter of play.
The Pats next TD came after Boyd evaded a couple of would-be sacks and lofted a ball deep into the end zone. Junior receiver Luke Watson brought the football in for the touchdown, bringing the score to 14-6 Carroll.
Just as it appeared Carroll was pulling away, the Burrs retaliated with two back-to-back scores as the Carroll defense floundered, heading into halftime with the score 18-14 West Catholic.
The Burrs received the second-half kickoff, only to punt it away following a three and out. The punt was, however, blocked and recovered by the Burrs in their own end zone for a Carroll safety, making it 18-16 West and forcing another punt. In an odd turn of events, punt returner Aaron Barnes fumbled the kick, giving West Catholic the ball in prime field position.
Nonetheless, West went three and out once more. The Pats took over at their own 26-yard line on the ensuing drive, as Barnes made up for his mistake, running in a 74-yard touchdown and giving the Patriots the lead again at 23-18.
As the fourth quarter began, the Carroll offense took it up a notch. Senior running back Hassan Bailey made it a two-score game with a five-yard touchdown run, bringing the score to 29-18 Patriots with seven minutes to go. While Carroll ran out the clock, West Catholic gained one last possession, scoring a garbage-time touchdown to pretty up the score at 29-24.
Finally, after a failed onside kick attempt by West Catholic, the Pats came out one last time as senior quarterback James Wright somewhat ceremoniously took the final knee in his first Catholic League win since his freshman season.
“We’re gonna go as we grow, ‘cause we have so many young guys contributing, especially in that freshman class,” said head coach Kyle Detweiler. “You know, they’re getting better every week. We left a lot out there. We did some self-inflicted stuff that let them hang around when we should have instead put them away and put this game out of reach. The last two weeks, we’ve had some really good weeks of practice, and that’s carried through into the game. There are no weeks off in the Catholic League.”
There certainly aren’t any weeks off for the Pats as they prepare to take on Cardinal O’Hara at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Norristown High School.