Knights hammer Saints for championship berth

The St. Mary's Knights are showing no signs of slowing down.

Recording their fifth consecutive shutout and sixth straight lopsided victory of the season, the Knights pounded the St. Basil Saints 52-0 on Friday night at Rocky DiPietro Field in High School Football League senior division semi-final playoff action.

The Knights win sets up a date with the Sir James Dunn Eagles for the city championship next Friday at 7 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.

Jordan Casola caught a 25 yard touchdown from quarterback John Mullin on the game's first drive to get the St. Mary's offense rolling.

Jeff Greco, who left the game minutes later with a shoulder injury, ran in a touchdown from 18 yards out, Jeff Pellegrino booted a 28 yard field goal, Casola caught another pass for a 32 yard major, Chris Lebel scored on a one yard run and Mark Devuono caught a 40 yard touchdown pass for a 38-0 St. Mary's lead at halftime.

In the second half, Brian Denneny caught a three yard touchdown pass and Andrew Belsito scored on a six yard run to complete the scoring.

Pellegrino kicked seven converts.

Mullin ended the night with nine completions on 13 attempts for 213 yards and four touchdown passes while rushing for 63 yards on four carries.

Lebel ran for 90 yards on 12 carries and caught two passes for 51 yards while Devuono caught three passes for 69 yards and Casola 57 yards on two touchdown recptions.

Defensively, Jordan Verdone led with 5.5 tackles, Dan Perri added 4.5, Jason Amadio and Mark Thorburn four each and Pat Murray 3.5 plus an interception. Brad Symboluk added 1.5 tackles, a sack and a blocked kick.

For the Saints, Tommy Reville led the ground game with 64 yards rushing on 10 carries. Quarterback Andrew Allen completed six of 12 passes for 53 yards including three passes to Steve Fantin for 34 yards and two to Kevin Smith for 23 yards.

Rob Amadio led the Saints defense with six tackles while Mike Wozny added five and a sack and Eric McLean four tackles.

The eventual city champion will get a bye into the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) final to be played on November 12.

The Sault's representative will travel to meet the winner of the NOSSA semi-final between North Bay and Sudbury in North Bay.

The NOSSA champion will advance to the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) sanctioned Central Bowl on Nov. 26 while the loser will face a Thunder Bay representative in the Northern Bowl.

*** JUNIOR:

In junior semi-final action on Saturday at the Queen Elizabeth B Field, Sir James Dunn meets St. Basil at noon followed by St. Mary's versus Korah at 2:15 p.m.

The winners will meet for the city championship on Sat. Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.