Knights hold on for slim win over Steelhawks

With semifinal spots already set, the St. Mary’s Knights and Superior Heights Steelhawks had a preview of their playoff meeting and it was a tight one.

After building a 19-6 lead, the Knights held on for a 19-18 win over the Steelhawks at Superior Heights on Thursday night in senior high school football action.

The win means the Knights finish the regular season with a 2-2 record.

“We’re happy with the result,” said Knights coach Jim Monico.

“We made some big plays in the passing game and we got good protection all night and the defence came up big,” Monico said. “We started off a little bit slow, but we had a good second quarter and that was the key.”

Monico said the second quarter was when “we came to life.”

“We made a few switches here and there and Nick (Pagnotta) started making some plays throwing the ball and we stepped up,” Monico said.

Steelhawks co-coach Steve McLeod spoke of the Steelhawks not capitalizing on chances early as a difference in the game.

“We had a great pass on the first play of the game and got down to the 10 and settled for a field goal,” McLeod said. “We had the momentum. We dropped a pass in the endzone and that hurt us. It really would have changed the momentum.

“Turnovers and some mental mistakes in the first half put us down,” McLeod added.

Gavin Smith hit a 24-yard field goal to open the scoring for Superior Heights early in the opening quarter and St. Mary’s conceded a safety early in the second quarter as Superior Heights went up 5-0.

St. Mary’s got on the board in the second quarter as Chuck Webb caught a pass from Pagnotta and ran the ball in for a touchdown. The 47-yard major made the score 6-5 St. Mary’s.

The Knights extended the lead later in the quarter when Pagnotta hit Martine Colicchio for a 21-yard touchdown. The Knights missed the two-point convert attempt but held a 12-5 lead.

Webb then caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Pagnotta with 4:08 to go in the third quarter. The subsequent convert by Cole Tasz made the score 19-6 Knights.

After a pair of penalties got the ball deep into St. Mary’s territory, Mitch DellaVedova ran the ball in from three yards out and Smith hit the convert to make the score 19-13 St. Mary’s.

Lucas Pacione then took a blocked punt into the Knights endzone with 8:30 to go after Smith blocked the punt. Pacione ran the ball 44 yards for the touchdown. The missed convert left the score at 19-18 St. Mary’s.

Making the game close late is something the Steelhawks will look to build on heading into the final week of the regular season.

“We have a no-die attitude and it’s great,” McLeod said. “It’s something we want to maintain. We’re going to see them in the semifinal so we’re really going to prepare for that.”

The game wraps up the regular season schedule for the Knights, who head into the semifinal action on the heels of a bye week.

“The week off is great,” Monico said. “We need the week off.”

The Steelhawks wrap up the regular season next week against Korah. The Colts enter the game with a 3-0 records while the Steelhawks are 0-3.

The Steelhawks and Knights will meet to open the playoffs on Oct. 18 with the winner facing Korah in the final the following week.

Statistically for the Knights, in addition to 33 yards rushing on eight carries, Pagnotta completed six of 22 pass attempts for 123 yards in the game.

Defensively for St. Mary’s, Carter Bonin had five tackles and an assisted tackle, a fumble recovery, and an interception in the win. Evan Sicoli had five tackles and two assisted tackles while Ryan Arruda and Ethan Novello also had five tackles each.

DellaVedova ran for 80 yards on 16 carries for the Steelhawks while Malcolm Boyer caught three passes for 86 yards.

Superior Heights quarterback Evan Johnson threw for 157 yards on 12-for-27 passing.

Cam Taylor had five tackles and an assisted tackle for Superior Heights while Ethan West also had five tackles.