The Bulldogs football team kicked off Labor Day Weekend in style with a wire-to-wire win over the St. Paul’s Crusaders in Brooklandville, MD Friday, August 30. STA’s defense forced a punt on the Crusaders’ first possession and sacked the punter inside the 10-yard line after a mishandled snap, which led to a Peter Prince field goal and an early 3-0 St. Albans lead. After another St. Paul’s punt, sophomore quarterback Brett Paukstis connected with senior wideout Lacy Rice on a deep post pattern for a 71-yard touchdown and a 9-0 Bulldog lead with 3:29 left in the first quarter. The teams exchanged possessions before Paukstis found Rice in the left corner of the end zone from 19 yards out and Prince tacked on the extra point for a 16-0 lead with 8:18 left in the second quarter.

 

Facing third and long on the following possession, the St. Paul’s quarterback was pressured by senior defensive tackle Rezin Weigmann and junior end Tyler Smith and forced a throw into coverage that junior Zahir Cobb intercepted and returned 24 yards to the Crusaders’ 34-yard line. The Bulldogs drove to the St. Paul’s 8 and Prince was true on a 23-yard field goal to extend the lead to 19-0 with 2:50 left in the first half. Foreshadowing a back and forth second half, the Crusaders would not go away and struck quickly with a 4-play, 54-yard drive capped by a 32-yard quarterback draw, narrowing the STA lead to 19-7.

 

The Dogs took over at their own 30-yard line looking to build on their lead before halftime. Facing a third and five from his own 35, Paukstis hit senior wideout Christian Cherilus down the middle for a 54-yard gain to the St. Paul’s 13-yard line. The Crusaders’ bend-but-not-break defense stood tall again and Prince hit his third field goal of the half from 26 yards out as time expired for a 22-7 lead.

 

The Crusaders marched 80 yards on 11 plays on the opening possession of the second half, culminating in a 24-yard touchdown pass to the back right corner of the end zone that made the score 22-14 with 7:04 left in the third quarter.  The Bulldogs responded by going to the air on their first possession of the second half. After no gain on a first-down run, the Dogs turned to Paukstis for seven completions on ten straight pass attempts, capped by a 10-yard throw to Rice for his third touchdown of the day. The Crusaders then drove inside the Bulldog 20 on the strength of a 34-yard pass. With 15 seconds left in the quarter and the Crusaders facing a third and seven from the STA 19, junior Rowan Banks raced past the right tackle to make a shoestring tackle on the quarterback just as he was releasing the ball. Sophomore Connor Mitchell deflected the pass and Tyler Smith made a diving interception to end the Crusader threat. Showing their resilience, St. Paul’s forced an STA punt, then drove 73 yards on seven plays, taking only 2:25 off the clock, to cut the lead to 29-21.

 

Junior Edward Samuel returned the ensuing kickoff to the Bulldog 39 setting up a quick response from the visitors. Zahir Cobb took a Paukstis screen 23 yards on first down. Puakstis found Rice for 16 yards to the Crusaders’ 22 on the next play. Then Cobb beat his man with a double move and Paukstis hit him in stride to restore the two-touchdown lead with 5:58 left. After the Crusaders took over from their own 27, the Bulldog defense shut the door with a first-down sack by Weigmann for a loss of 9, a second-down sack by Smith and Weigmann, and third-down incompletion under pressure from Smith, Weigmann, and senior Wasson Burns.

 

Next up for the Bulldogs is Bishop O’Connell Saturday, September 7 at 2pm at O’Connell.