The Pats play reflected the weather on a gloomy morning at Norristown Area H.S. as they fell to the Lions of Cardinal O’Hara, 17-0.
The Patriots early kickoff came as a result of the inclement weather. Scheduled originally for a 1 p.m. kickoff, the game began just as the rain did at about 10 a.m., leaving for a cold and wet morning of Archbishop Carroll football.
Both teams struggled to get much going on offense early on. The weather played a big part in things with both clubs fumbling a combined four times in the first quarter alone. The Carroll offensive line also didn’t help the situation, as freshman quarterback Jay Boyd was sacked five times on the day.
Finally, after a stalemate through the first 25 minutes, Cardinal O’Hara quarterback John Welde found wide receiver Kahlil Epps to make it 7-0 Lions.
Carroll got another chance to even the score right before the half but had to punt after just five plays.
O’Hara took over at the 40-yard line and marched downfield to make it a 10-0 game heading into halftime after kicker Jack Mckinney nailed his field goal attempt.
The Pats got the ball to start the second half, though they got nothing going once again while the O’Hara defense seemingly couldn’t miss.
As the second half trudged on, O’Hara was forced to keep it in the air as one of the few bright spots for Carroll made its mark: the defensive line play. O’Hara failed to establish any sort of run game until the fourth quarter, while the Patriot defensive line mauled through the Lions O-Line.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter is where O’Hara began to pull away, as Welde ran it in from one yard out to make the score 17-0 O’Hara.
Carroll got the ball back one last time and worked a long methodical drive all the way down to their own 30-yard-line before senior Hassan Bailey dropped a would-be first down on fourth down, forcing a turnover on downs.
O’Hara took over with still seven minutes to go and worked the clock for the rest of the game, ironically running the ball down the Pats’ throats until the clock hit triple zeros.
Coming off the heels of their biggest win of the season, and perhaps their biggest win in four years, Carroll laid an egg and it showed in nearly all facets of the game.
“We had a lot of missed opportunities,” Director of Football Operations Mark Mounayar said. “The line didn’t play great, and a lot of things didn’t go our way.”
The Patriots allowed five sacks on the day and left Boyd out to dry on multiple occasions while the O’Hara defensive line feasted.
“Credit to O’Hara; that’s a good football team,” said Patriots head coach Kyle Detweiler. “We knew they had a great defense, and we expected that, but when we talked after the game, briefly we talked about missed opportunities. I mean, we have so many guys who can make plays with the ball in their hands, and so many guys running open and we’re just not getting them the ball or we’re not giving our quarterback enough time to make those throws.”
Missed opportunities and other issues played a factor in the day’s loss and that was felt on both sides of the line: by coaches, and players.
“It was an early start, and we were not prepared as a team,” said junior defensive end Adam Moffit. “It’s that simple.”
Carroll will head to South Philadelphia next week to take on defending blue division champions Neumann-Goretti for a Saturday, 1 p.m. kickoff at the South Philly Supersite.