By Nate Beutel
NIAGARA FALLS — Round one goes to St. Mary’s of Lancaster.
A trio of poor plays by its punting unit cost Niagara Catholic valuable field position and ultimately the game as it lost 21-0 to the visitors at Conti Field Saturday in both teams’ Monsignor Martin League A regular season finale. The same two teams will play Saturday in the semifinals, this time in Lancaster.
“Our punt team really put us behind the eight ball all afternoon,” NC coach Don Marinucci said. “They’re not necessarily a better team than us, we just didn’t play very well today, particularly on special teams.”
The first miscue came early in the second quarter when NC (2-5 overall, 1-2 MMAA League A) snapped the ball over punter Jeff Hare’s head, giving the ball to the Lancers on the Patriots’ 40-yard line. Four plays later, St. Mary’s quarterback Luke Hinton raced into the end zone from 28 yards out.
The score would stay that way until late in the third quarter when Hare’s punt got caught in the wind and went out of bounds only one yard past the previous line of scrimmage — the NC 35-yard line. Seven run plays later, the Lancers were again in the end zone, this time on a two-yard plunge by fullback Anthony Chiarmonte.
St. Mary’s (4-4, 2-1) would add a final touchdown just a few minutes later after Hare’s punt failed to reach the line of scrimmage. Hinton picked up the bouncing ball and returned it to the NC 7-yard line. Two plays later, Hinton finished the drive with a 3-yard scoring keeper.
“Our line was supposed to win this game for us and clearly they didn’t do that,” Marinucci said. “Defensively they were getting beat up and offensively they were missing their assignments.”
Patriots tailback Dave DeVaughn had 65 yards on 17 carries, while fullback Antonio Johnson added 25 yards on six rushes. NC did not complete a pass. Ben Webb led the defense with 11 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery and Carmen Marra added nine stops.
“We’re going to look at a lot of film this week and come up with a different gameplan,” Marinucci said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
St. Joe’s 31, Timon 7
Nick Hall had 164 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries to lift the Marauders to the win in their Monsignor Martin League AA regular season finale. St. Joe’s (5-4 overall, 3-1 MMAA) will host St. Francis in the League AA semifinals Saturday.
Quarterback Matt Rosenhahn added 44 yards and a touchdown on the ground along with 47 yards passing. Jeff Bellanca, who led the defense with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery, added 52 yards rushing on just six carries. Jeff Moore caught two passes for 23 yards. Kevin Schwartz kicked a 27-yards field goal and was 4-for-4 on his PATs.
Defensively, Tyler Beresford had nine tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery and Dominic Bargnesi added eight stops, a sack and a fumble recovery. The Marauders had six sacks as a team.
Mark Almquist scored the lone touchdown for the Tigers (1-8, 0-4), who will visit top-seeded Canisius in the other League AA semifinal Saturday.
Starpoint 43, Newfane 0
Tyler Robinson, who rushed for 144 yards on 10 carries, scored on the Spartans’ third play from scrimmage in the non-league win over their former Class B North rivals. It was the third consecutive win for Starpoint (3-6 overall).
Denver Kopp, who led the defense with 11 tackles and a sack, caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Brandon Wehrmeyer (2-for-3 passing, 48 yards, TD), while Cory Regnet had a pair of rushing touchdowns. Tyler Smith and Mike McMahon also scored on the ground in the win. Connor O’Brien kicked a 35-yard field goal.
Defensively, Dave Phillips had seven tackles and Dom Scarpine recovered a fumble. Newfane, which never crossed midfield against the Spartans, finishes the year 1-8 with its lone victory coming over winless Tonawanda.
Contact reporter Nate Beutel at 282-2311, ext. 2262.
