St. Mary’s gridders run wild over Arlington Catholic

ARLINGTON – Not even a cold and driving rain at Peirce Field could slow down St. Mary’s ground attack Friday night in the Spartans Catholic Central League/Large opener against Arlington Catholic.The Spartans scored touchdowns on their first five possessions and added in an interception return for a touchdown to simply overwhelm the Cougars, 52-22, in a game that really wasn’t that close.St. Mary’s52Arl. Cath.22 “It’s a great win because its on the road and it’s a league game,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin said.”The kids really came out ready to play.”AC (0-6) never had a chance in this one as the Spartans (6-0) got the ball first and needed only two plays and 48 seconds to score as Nick Day raced in from 37 yards out.Ryan Barrows’ 2-point conversion made it 8-0 and sent St. Mary’s on its way.The Cougars fumbled the ensuing kick with Nick Lee recovering for St. Mary’s at the AC 35.Seven plays later, Barrows scored from the six and it was 16-0 after Todd Collier’s conversion rush.AC delivered its lone lightning bolt of the half on the kickoff as Jamey Conley went 68 yards down the right sideline to cut the lead to 16-8 and give the Cougars a bit of a lift. St. Mary’s quickly would snuff that out though.Pinned at their 20 after an illegal block call, the Spartans would used 10 plays and over five minutes on the clock to extend the lead to 24-8 when Collier powered in from seven yards out and Day added another 2-point conversion.Things only went from bad to worse for the Cougars one play later as defensive end Guychard Samson intercepted Aaron Swenson’s screen pass and went 52 yards to the house to stake St. Mary’s to a stunning 30-8 lead after one quarter.The Cougars went nowhere quickly early in the second quarter before punting. This time it took only one play for St. Mary’s to score as Collier went 58 yards to make it 38-8 after Xavier Gonzalez added the rush.Swenson, who was heroic all night despite taking a pounding from the Spartan defense, coughed up the pigskin on the next drive and St. Mary’s went to town again.Day did the honors this time withj a 26-yard jaunt with Jack Simpson’s 2-point conversion sending St. Mary’s to the half with a 46-8 lead.”AC has great tradition and we came in here expecting to have a tough game,” Durgin said. “Nicky really got us going early and we went on from there.”Swenson would provide the only points of the third quarter with a two-yard sneak and conversion rush to make it 48-14. Brandon Kahari’s 26-yard touchdown in the final period was answered by an Anthony Reale 18-yard run to make it the 52-22 final.