Fenwick takes down De La Salle

Updated: October 22, 2011 5:04PM

De La Salle was playing for its playoff life. Fenwick was playing for pride. In the end, pride won out as a gritty Friar team that has faced its share of ups and downs all year, pounded the ball all day to secure a 28-21 victory to end the regular season.

Fenwick (4-5, 2-1) set the tone of the game on the opening drive. That tone was to run the ball and then run the ball some more. The drive lasted five minutes and consisted of all running plays. It was capped off by a 12-yard touchdown run by Pat Hart (22 carries, 139 yards), his first of three on the day.

Little changed on the Friars’ next possession. They added Jack Stibich (13 carries, 101 yards) to the running mix and he rewarded them with a 30-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

De La Salle (4-5, 0-3) finally got things going in the second quarter when it turned to running back Mikale Wilbon (20 carries, 147 yards). Wilbon responded with 47 yards on four rushes setting up a first and goal on the Fenwick 1-yard line. Two plays later quarterback Casey Brandtonies (16-for-30, 182 yards, two touchdown) performed a play action and rolled to his right to find a wide open Chris Lisenby in the end zone to cut the Friar lead to 14-7.

The Friar response was immediate. After Stibach and Hart moved the ball to the De La Salle 27, quarterback Dan Lattner found John O’Malley for a 24-yard completion on fourth and 10. After a De La Salle offsides penalty, Hart rammed the ball across the goal line from the 1-yard line to make it 21-7 Fenwick with 3:46 left in the first half.

“The offensive line really stepped up today,” said Hart. “They had a good week of practice. They did their job and we did ours.”

De La Salle once again turned to Wilbon and he answered the call with a spectacular 55-yard run. A few plays later, including an 11-yard first down run by Wilbon, Brandtonies once again hooked up with Lisenby for a touchdown, this time for four yards, to make it 21-14 heading into half time.

Fenwick grabbed momentum back halfway through the third quarter when it forced the Meteors to go three and out and give the Friars good field position on the De La Salle 33 yard line. This led to Hart extending the Friar lead to 28-14 on an 18-yard touchdown run in which he broke three tackles.

The Meteors were still in it in the fourth quarter when Brandtonies found Lisenby off a flea flicker for a 60-yard completion. On the next play, Brandtonies dove over the goal line to cut the Friar lead to 28-21 with 8:35 left in the game.

But Stibich and Hart were able to run six minutes off the clock before the Meteors got the ball back. De La Salle failed to get a first down on four tries.

“We wanted to finish the season strong,” said Stibich. “It’s been a rough year, but now we are eligible to play in the Prep Bowl. We are now looking forward to that.”

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