By Anthony Bosco
St. Francis Prep running back Natale Modica summed up the annual St. Francis Prep-Holy Cross football game in two words: Bragging Rights.
The Terriers of St. Francis dominated their cross-town rivals Friday night, holding the Knights to no first downs and only two yards of offense through the first two quarters of play en route to a 24-6 win before more than 2,000 fans at St. John’s University’s DaSilva Memorial Field.
“We needed this win,” said Modica, who finished with 129 yards on 16 carries. “It started from Monday. We had four days of hard practice. Everybody was pumped during the week. You can’t say anything about it. We lost to Cross [three] straight years. We wanted it.”
It appeared to be a battle of defenses early on, as neither team mounted much offense in the first quarter. Not until the first possession of the second quarter, when St. Francis Prep took over at the Cross 35 following a short punt, did any team break the ice.
After two plays netted -1 yards, Prep quarterback Peter Mazzurco scrambled to the Cross 17, only to have the play called back on a holding penalty, setting up third-and-22.
An incomplete pass seemed to end Prep’s hopes, but a personal foul on the Knights gave the Terriers new life. Mazzurco again scrambled to the 10, setting up Modica, who ran the ball in two plays later from the six to put Prep on top. Mazzurco booted the extra point to make the score 7-0 with 9:19 remaining in the first half.
Cross’ offense failed to move the ball on its next possession and again gave Prep solid field position at the Knights’ 40. The running of Modica and fullback Michael Conigliaro and a 13-yard pass play from Mazzurco to Matt Burik moved St. Francis to the Cross 5. Mazzurco ran the ball in from there and kicked the extra point to make it 14-0 with 4:31 remaining.
“We didn’t tackle,” said Holy Cross head coach Tom Pugh. “We haven’t tackled all year. We’re not good. If you’re not good, you better hit. We’re very competitive every year, even if we have a bad team. We don’t have the horses to win, but we usually hit. We didn’t hit tonight. That’s disappointing.”
St. Francis nearly slammed the door shut on Cross late in the first half, taking over at the Cross 32 after the Knights turned the ball over on down, failing to convert on fourth-and-one. Prep ran the ball down to the 11, used two pass completions to get to the one before Modica was stopped short of the goal line.
St. Francis seemed to signal for the time-out, but the officials on the field said time had run out on the period, leaving Prep perched inside the Cross one.
“We thought we got in at first,” Modica said. “We thought we got the time-out, but we just didn’t get in. I thought we did.”
Two passes from Mazzurco, one to Modica and another to Conigliaro on Prep’s opening possession of the second half, netted 39 yards and set up a 37-yard field goal by Mazzurco to push Prep’s lead to 17-0.
Cross finally got its first first down of the day on the next possession on a three-yard run by Paul Jennings. The Knights followed it with a 16-yard scamper by Lance Smith to the Terriers’ 30. Aided by a roughing the passer penalty on fourth-and-eight, Cross got down to the St. Francis 10 before quarterback Dan Meara was stripped of the ball, which was recovered by Burik for Prep at the nine.
Two plays later, Modica ripped off an 87-yard touchdown run down the far sideline to put Prep up 24-0, following Mazzurco’s extra point.
“We planned to run that play the whole entire week,” Modica said. “We saw the end come crashing down and there was a great block by the O-line. I was thinking touchdown the whole entire way.”
The Knights finally got on the board with the game already out of reach. Meara, who was eight-for-16 for 87 yards, found Deveraux Leget for 47 yards, Jennings for 15 and Richard Belot for 10, setting up a four-yard TD toss to Jennings. The two-point conversion try failed, making the score 24-6 with 3:20 remaining in regulation.
The subsequent onside kick was recovered by St. Francis at midfield and the Terriers ran out the clock.
St. Francis, now 2-2 overall and 1-2 CHSFL, will host Iona Prep at St. John’s University Sunday at 1 p.m. Holy Cross, which falls to 1-3 overall and 1-2 CHSFL, will head north to face Mount St. Michael at 2 p.m. Saturday.
St. Anthony’s 42, Christ the King 6. Andre Redd hauled in a 25-yard touchdown reception from back-up quarterback Michael Fisher for the lone Royals’ score in Saturday’s league loss to the defending champion St. Anthony’s Friars.
Starting quarterback Jamar McClaney and offensive lineman Milton Harris were both injured and taken to the hospital during the game, but neither was seriously injured and both were released. Christ the King, now 0-3 in league play, will take on Kellenberg Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
