Nazareth holds on against St Patrick

Updated: September 17, 2011 7:14PM

Nazareth averted a second-half disaster as it sidestepped some costly turnovers and untimely penalties and held on to beat St. Patrick 35-32 Saturday afternoon in LaGrange Park.

The Roadrunners (3-1, 2-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference) ran all over the Shamrocks (3-1, 1-1) in the first half and built a 35-13 halftime advantage – thanks to 291 yards and five touchdowns, all coming on the ground.

But Nazareth head coach Tim Racki said he wasn’t surprised by the St. Patrick comeback and warned his team in the locker room that this game was far from over.

“I’ve been in this situation before (a big halftime lead) and tried to prepare them at halftime and tell them not to relax,” Racki said. “I knew that team was not going to give up because they have an explosive offense. So I wasn’t surprised, I was just hoping we would quit hurting ourselves with the turnovers and penalties and I think we panicked a little bit. We have to work on that. We had a chance to close the deal, but St. Pat’s is a great team, they came in undefeated so we learned some lessons and it’s a win so we’ll take it.”

After falling behind 7-0 after St. Patrick scored on its first possession of four plays, culminating in a 14-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ryan Tentler to senior wide receiver Anthony Ferraris, the Roadrunners struck back, putting the ball in the end zone the first two times they had the ball.

Nazareth senior QB Sam Poulos completed a six-play, 82-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown scamper to tie the score at 7-7. With under a minute left in the opening period, the Roadrunners got another score on the ground, this time from senior Kevin Kurtin to go up 14-7.

St. Patrick scored early in the second quarter on a three-yard run by receiver/back Guy DiBalsamo, but a missed extra point prevented the Shamrocks from tying the game, which would come into play later in the contest.

Nazareth then went on to run its way to three more rushing touchdowns – a 38-yarder by junior Rudy Romagnano, a one-yard plunge by Kurtin, and a 15-yard Romagnano romp to pay dirt to pull ahead 35-13.

After a scoreless third quarter, St. Patrick began to mount its comeback on the first play of the fourth when Tentler found Ferraris from 23 yards out with just 15 seconds gone in the final 12 minutes of play. A two-point try was no good to make the score 35-19.

The Shamrocks’ Tom Rahlfs intercepted a Poulos pass on the Roadrunners’ next possession and St. Pat’s wasted no time in capitalizing. Tentler hit Ferraris with a 29-yard strike for his second touchdown in under two minutes and his third of the game.

Romagnano broke free for a 54-yard run the next time he touched the ball to set the Roadrunners up for another possible score at the five-yard line, but a fumble in the end zone on the next play by Curtin turned the ball over to St. Patrick.

The Shamrocks didn’t score that time, but after an unsuccessful fake punt by Nazareth the next time on offense, Tentler found a wide open Steve Galiardo for a 59-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive to draw St. Patrick to within 35-32 with 2 minutes, 54 seconds left to play.

Fortunately for the Roadrunners, they were able to run out the clock and hang on for the win.

Romagnano led the ground onslaught with 207 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns.

“We learned we have to come back hungry in the second half even when we have a big lead,” Romagnano said. “We can’t let a team, especially one with a potent offense like St. Pat’s, get back into the game like that. We have to play hard and not let up the whole 48 minutes. They’re a big team, but we’re quicker so I think we used that to our advantage.

“Today, I just tried to keep my legs moving, keep pounding the ball, and my line made me some big holes and led me to the end zone.

Tentler was just as spectacular for the Shamrocks with his arm, completing 31 of 44 passes for 383 yards and four touchdowns. He hit 13 of his first 14 passes in the first quarter and finished the first half 16 of 20 for 158 yards.

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