Late rally not enough for St. Francis Prep

The second half was St. Francis Prep’s finest half of football to date.
It was more impressive than anything they did against Holy Cross; gutsier than the come-from-behind Christ the King win; more balanced than the blowout of Cardinal Spellman.
Ultimately, though, it was not enough to wipe out a 21-point halftime deficit. They did not make quite enough plays to erase their mediocre and flat first 24 minutes of football.
“That,” senior safety James Kikel said, “pretty much took us out of the game.”
The showdown for first place in the CHSFL ‘AA’ standings - between two undefeated clubs that were averaging double-digit victories in their six respective league triumphs - ended with St. Francis on the short side of the Fordham University scoreboard, 24-14, to the still undefeated Rams of Fordham Prep.
“They were the better team tonight,” Kikel admitted. “Hopefully, we get them next time, and we build off this.”
When the Terriers left the field, they did not do so with their hands down or tears rolling down their checks. Sure, that happened earlier, as they trudged to their locker room at the end of a forgettable first half. Nevertheless, after a heroic second half, sparked by the fearless running of Robert Dougherty, intelligent decision-making of quarterback James Marsanico, and bend-but-not-break defense, they held their heads high as they departed Coffey Field.
“They left with a great sense of accomplishment; they left with a great sense of pride,” said St. Francis Coach Vincent O’Connor. “They are better athletes [now] than when we got here.”
The first two quarters, meanwhile, the Terriers would like to forget.
The first time the Rams touched the ball, they went 63 dominant yards in nine efficient plays, reaching pay dirt on Calvin McCoy’s 2-yard scamper.
St. Francis went three-and-out on their ensuing possession, although a holding call negated a 65-yard Tristan Akong scoring jaunt, one of many pivotal plays to go against the Terriers.
Fordham Prep would score again early in the second quarter when standout wide receiver Peter LaMacchia beat a pair of Terriers with a double move for a 37-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Lawrence DeSimone.
A 14-point deficit was daunting enough, but the ensuing drive was likely the difference. On 4th-and-goal from the Fordham 2-yard line, Marsanico was flooded out of the pocket, and his desperation shuffle pass to Matthew Gebert was snuffed out.
“We should’ve scored,” Dougherty said. “It was a big point in the game, a turning point.”
Adding salt to the wound, DeSimone took the next play 89 yards for a touchdown, taking off out of a spread formation.
“The big plays killed us,” Kikel lamented. “We stop those big plays, it’s a totally different game.”
But they didn’t quit. Dougherty got the comeback started with an 85-yard sprint to the end zone just over four minutes into the third quarter. They got to within a single score, to 21-14, when Akong capped a marathon 19-play, 66-yard drive with a two-yard dash that left 5:44 on the clock for the game-tying touchdown.
Unfortunately, the Rams drove deep into St. Francis territory, setting up Connor Brown’s 26-yard field goal with just 2:30 left remaining to ice it.
However, when the final horn sounded, disappointment did not fill the St. Francis sideline. The Terriers were already looking ahead to next week, to a hard week of practice, to a new winning streak, and a possible rematch come playoff-time.
“We feel very confident because we turned it up [in the] second half,” Dougherty said. “If we do that all four quarters, it will be a different score.
“It will,” the junior added emphatically, “be a different outcome.”