For the second week in a row, St. Albans Football went on the road to face an inspired opponent playing it’s first home game of the season. Sophomore quarterback Brett Pautskis quieted the crowd early with a 5-yard touchdown run at 9:05 of the first quarter. Juniors Chris Solomon and Tyler Smith, sophomore Connor Mitchell and senior Will Moore opened the initial hole for Pautskis, who carried five Knights with him over the final two yards and across the goal line.

 

Both teams’ defenses dug in for the rest of the quarter with each forcing turnovers and making fourth down stops. O’Connell broke through early in the second quarter when junior running back Mikhai Martin plowed into the endzone from five yards out at 10:20. Martin had set the Knights up with a 30-yard run on the first play of the quarter. After forcing a St. Albans punt, the Knights struck again with a 42-yard catch-and-run to tight end Joseph Williams and a 14-7 lead.

 

Senior Christian Cherilus returned the ensuing kickoff to the St. Albans 32-yard-line and the Bulldogs marched 68 yards in 12 plays culminating in a Pautskis touchdown pass to junior Zahir Cobb from 15 yards out. The drive featured a 26-yard catch and run by Cobb and an acrobatic highlight reel catch by senior Lacy Rice. Rice lost his footing coming out of his break on a square in, regained himself to deflect a probable interception up in the air and caught the ball one-handed as he landed on his back. Junior Will Martin also had several pounding runs on the drive including converting on 4^th and 1 from the Knights’ 19-yard-line. Senior kicker Peter Prince was good on the extra point but the Knights were flagged for an offsides penalty. With the ball moved inside the 2-yard-line Coach Martin took the point off the board in favor of a 2-point conversion. Will Martin burst through a gaping hole on the right side opened by senior Clyde Eaton, Mitchell and Smith to give the Bulldogs a 15-14 with just over a minute left in the first half. With the Knights trying to take the lead back before the break, Tyler Smith and senior Wasson Burns chased the quarterback from the pocket, then Smith caught him from behind forcing a fumble that junior Paulos Preston recovered at the O’Connell 40 with 14 seconds on the clock. Pautskis hit Cherilus on a quick out at the 35 and the junior wideout split three O’Connell defenders before being hauled down at the 19. Prince’s 36-yard field goal attempt as time expired had plenty of distance but was wide by just inches.

 

With STA holding a 15-14 halftime lead, both teams’ coaching staffs went to work during the break plotting offensive adjustments that led to a wild third quarter in which the teams combined for 42 points, four lead changes and a stretch of five touchdowns in six offensive possessions, all in 8:47 of play time. On the opening drive of the third quarter the STA defense forced a Knights’ punt, which led to a bad snap that gave the Bulldogs the ball at the Knights’ 32-yard-line. Four plays later, on 2^nd and 8 from the 22, Rice outjumped his defender to grab a Pautskis throw inside the end zone pylon and a 21-14 lead. Prince’s extra point made it 22-14 with 8:02 left in the third quarter.

 

The entire game then changed in less than 90 seconds of clock time. O’Connell’s Martin took Prince’s kickoff at his own 2-yard-line and turned on the jets for a 95-yard return to the Bulldogs’ three. He scored two plays later to make it a one-point game again, 22-21. The Knights recovered a fumble on STA’s first play of the ensuing drive and Martin scored his second touchdown in as many plays from scrimmage to give O’Connell its first lead of the day, 28-22, with 6:48 left in the third quarter.

 

The Bulldogs brushed off the momentum swing to put together a 70-yard, 8-play scoring drive. On second down from the Knights’ 8, Rice elevated over his man to grab a Pautskis fade and got his foot down inside the boundary for his second touchdown catch of the day and fifth of the season. Prince’s kick put the Bulldogs up 29-28. Building on the third quarter theme, Knights senior quarterback Graham Deaton hit his tight end Williams for an 80-yard touchdown to put the Knights back up 34-29. Bulldog senior William Moore broke through to smother the extra-point kick to keep it a 5-point game.

 

The Knights tried to cross-up STA’s return team with a high short kick that Will Martin received at the 20 and returned to the Bulldogs’ 45-yard-line. With the help of a penalty on the return, the Bulldogs took over on the Knights’ 40. On first down, Zahir Cobb made a one-handed catch on a slant at the 30, split two tacklers, juked two more with a studder step at the 25, then outran the last two defenders to the corner of the end zone. With a one-point lead, Coach Martin opted for a two-point conversion attempt. Cobb found himself in single coverage and posted up his man to grab the Pautskis pass and put the Dogs up 37-34 with 3:13 still on the clock in the third quarter.

 

The STA defense stiffened after that and forced a Knights’ punt early in the fourth quarter that bounced into the end zone for a touchback. Facing a 3^rd and 8 from his own 34-yard-line, Pautskis hit Cherilus in the middle of the field for 18 yards to the O’Connell 48. On 2^nd and 7, Martin followed key blocks from seniors Pavit George and Matthew Len and junior Chris Solomon, got to the second level of the defense and accelerated past seven Knights’ tacklers for what would ultimately be the game-sealing 45-yard touchdown run. But with 5:43 on the clock, the STA defense still had work to do. Wasson Burns led a defensive line charge that sacked the O’Connell quarterback on first down, then senior Rezin Weigmann slipped his blocker to drag down a Knights’ running back for another loss. Junior Edward Samuel blanketed an O’Connell receiver to prevent a long third down pass attempt to force an O’Connell punt with just over 4 minutes left.

 

The Bulldogs were determined to not give the O’Connell offense another chance and they did just that in a game-clinching drive that featured tough inside runs by Martin and senior Mark Oesterle, and a big third down catch and run by Cherilus. The 44-34 win moves the Bulldogs to 2-0 on the season. Next up for STA is its home opener next Saturday versus Jackson-Reed at 4:00pm on Steuart Field.