Tough defense was the hallmark of the Christian Brothers Academy football team’s late-season surge into the Section II, Class AA playoffs.
But there was nothing that the Brothers defense could do to stop quarterback Jared Henkel, tailback Marquis Terrell and the LaSalle Institute offense Sunday in Troy.
Henkel completed 11 of 21 passes for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns, and Terrell rushed for more than 100 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cadets to a 47-22 victory over CBA in the Sectional quarterfinals.
At the end of the third quarter, I thought there were no weaknesses on this (LaSalle) team, said CBA coach Matt Gormley. `They can throw the ball well, and they have some size (up front).`
LaSalle (7-1) first attacked CBA (3-5) through the air. Henkel hit Josh Brown on a 5-yard touchdown pass to get the Cadets on the scoreboard, and then he connected with Lou DiNovo on a 60-yard scoring strike to give LaSalle a 14-0 lead.
Things continued to go LaSalle’s way in the second quarter. Terrell capped the Cadets’ third offensive series with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 21-0. Then, Brown recovered a CBA fumble and returned it 22 yards for another touchdown to increase LaSalle’s lead to 27 points.
CBA’s offense was stuck in neutral until LaSalle coach Al Rapp decided to attempt a fake punt deep in Cadets’ territory late in the second quarter. The pass fell incomplete, giving the Brothers a first down near LaSalle’s 20-yard line with 1:06 left. Quarterback Andrew Vivian completed the short series with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Justin Marini to give CBA seven points and a little momentum heading into halftime.
`We had our (punt) block on, and we put a lot of pressure on their other two punts. So, they probably thought about that and tried for the fake,` said Gormley.
Whatever momentum CBA had after Vivian’s touchdown pass faded quickly in the third quarter. LaSalle drove down the field, and Terrell scored his second 1-yard touchdown run of the game to give the Cadets their 27-point lead back. The senior tailback later added a 25-yard scoring run that made the score 40-14.
`They ran a good offense against us, and maybe our defense was a little tired from the first half,` said Gormley. `That’s when they took it to us.`
Vivian threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Sherman following a LaSalle turnover in the third quarter, and Aaron Steele added a 2-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter for CBA, but it was too little too late to avoid elimination.
`When we play LaSalle, it’s such a big rivalry. During the week, that’s all they thought about,` said Gormley. `And when they got down 27-0 in the first half, I think they got a little down on themselves.`
The Brothers finish the season Friday night when they face Colonie in a crossover game.
`(The two schools are) so close that we could walk over there,` said Gormley.
Colonie (4-4) fell into the crossover bracket after losing to Shenendehowa 28-14 in another class AA quarterfinal game Saturday in Clifton Park.
`We did enough things wrong, and they did enough things right,` said Colonie coach Mike Ambrosio. `They’re a good team. Defensively, they did a good job of bottling us up.`
The Garnet Raiders answered after Shen’s first touchdown when tailback Joe Poleto plunged into the end zone from two yards out to cap a second quarter drive. But the Plainsmen (7-1) scored two more times before halftime ` one on a Jason Bedard 5-yard touchdown run, and the other on Mike Daly’s 82-yard punt return ` to build a 21-7 lead.
Colonie pulled within seven points in the third quarter on another Poleto touchdown run, but Bedard capped a fourth quarter series with a 13-yard scoring scamper to seal Shen’s victory.
`We couldn’t take the next step (after Poleto’s second touchdown run), and they scored again,` said Ambrosio.
Poleto rushed for more than 60 yards, and quarterback Tom Duff threw for more than 170 yards to lead Colonie’s offense, but the Garnet Raiders’ defense had difficulty containing Shen’s running game, which registered more than 300 yards.
`When you make the playoffs, you hope to take the next step,` said Ambrosio. `Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, but we’ll regroup Friday night (against CBA) and look forward to next year.`
Shaker (1-7) is also looking for a strong finish in the crossover bracket after stumbling in a 13-6 loss to Albany Saturday in Latham.
There was no scoring until the third quarter, when Albany quar-terback Jake Valentine hit Jalon Scott on a 27-yard touchdown pass to put the Falcons (3-5) ahead 7-0. Shaker was in the process of engineering a potentially game-tying drive in the fourth quarter when Albany’s defense forced a fumble at its own 9-yard line. Joshua Gordon picked up the loose ball and raced 91 yards to give the Falcons a 13-0 lead.
Mike Shanahan scored on a 4-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to get the Blue Bison on the scoreboard, but the Falcons held on for their third consecutive win.
Ryan Gifford threw for more than 120 yards, and Mark Ambrosio rushed for 61 yards to lead Shaker, which concludes its season Friday when it travels to Saratoga.
Valentine threw for more than 90 yards, and Chad McCray added 72 rushing yards for Albany. “
