Knights rebound in senior football

The St. Mary’s Knights got into the win column on Friday night in senior high school football action at Superior Heights.

After falling behind in the opening quarter, the Knights proceeded to bounce back in a 23-6 victory over Superior Heights at Superior Heights.

“I’m a lot happier this week obviously because we won,” Knights coach Jim Monico said. “We started slow again and that’s something we’re going to have to address. We started clicking on offence as the game went on. The defence made some really good adjustments.”

Friday’s win came on the heels of a tough loss against Korah last week in which Monico said the team was “terrible in the first half.”

Despite another slow start in the win over Superior Heights, Monico said the team showed a marked improvement.

“Things started coming together,” Monico said. “As a team we took some strides forward this week.”

For the Steelhawks, fatigue also played a role for the inexperienced club late in the game.

“They played for three quarters,” Superior Heights coach Paul Orazietti said of his team. “They played hard. They battled. It was a one-point game late in the third and then it got away from us a bit.”

Inexperience down the roster made things difficult for Superior Heights.

“We just don’t have the depth at a lot of positions to weather the storm when it comes to injuries,” Orazietti said. “Once we get past our first group, we like to think it’s next man up mentality, but we’re really young and guys are still learning the positions.”

Superior Heights opened the scoring with 4:48 to go in the opening quarter as quarterback Gabe Barkley ran the ball in from one yard out to make it 6-0.

St. Mary’s got on the board with 95 seconds to go in the second quarter as quarterback Matti Tucker and receiver Daniel Bumbaco hooked up for a touchdown.

Tucker hit Bumbaco for a 45-yard pass and run for the major. The convert by Bumbaco made the score 7-6 Knights through two quarters.

St. Mary’s took a 10-6 lead on a 12-yard field goal by Bumbaco with 1:40 to go in the third quarter.

Superior Heights surrendered a safety at the end of the third quarter to make it 12-6 St. Mary’s.

Bumbaco kicked a 24-yard field goal just over two minutes into the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 15-6 St. Mary’s.

With 7:08 to go, Tucker hit Bumbaco for a 30-yard touchdown pass. With the convert from Bumbaco, the Knights took a 22-6 lead.

St. Mary’s picked up a rouge with just over four minutes to go, making the score 23-6 Knights.

Bumbaco had a busy day for the Knights, catching five passes for 105 yards while also running the ball seven times for 58 yards and kicked a pair of field goals in addition to his touchdown catch.

Tucker completed nine of 16 pass attempts for 189 yards for St. Mary’s in the win.

Defensively for the Knights, Jaiden Trudeau and Noah Divalentine had 6.5 tackles each while Grant Mattewson had five.

Barkley finished the day completing seven of 16 pass attempts and ran the ball 23 times for 119 yards and a touchdown in the loss.

On the defensive side of the ball for Superior Heights, Trenton Suphal-Miller had 8.5 tackles and Daikaden Gauthier-Long added five.

Superior Heights returns to action next Friday when they face Korah in a 7:30 p.m. start at Superior Heights.

After a bye in week four, St. Mary’s will return to action on Oct. 7 against Korah.

Friday’s junior game saw St. Mary’s pick up a narrow 15-13 win over Superior Heights.

Cole Rivet ran for a touchdown for the Knights while Koen Kurylo caught a pass for a major.

Dax Pringle and Albert Perreault had the touchdowns for Superior HEights

In Thursday’s junior game, Peyton Melchiorre ran for a pair of touchdowns as Korah picked up a 33-7 win over White Pines to improve to 3-0.

Nathan Guizzetti also ran for a touchdown while Makeese Strawbridge caught a touchdown pass for Korah.

Garrin Pine had the lone touchdown for White Pines in the loss.

White Pines sits at 1-2 after the loss.

In junior action in week three White Pines will face St. Mary’s in the Thursday night game at Superior Heights Kickoff is set for 5:45 p.m.

Korah and Superior Heights will meet on Friday night in a 4:45 p.m. kickoff at Superior Heights.