St. Mary’s has field day against Arlington Catholic

ARLINGTON – Talk about your well-timed slump busters.The St. Mary’s football team, losers of its last three games, returned to the win column with a bang in a 46-8 victory over host-Arlington Catholic Saturday afternoon, securing a spot in the postseason in the process.”Our backs were against the wall but these kids came in and played as hard as they could to earn a complete team win,” said coach Matt Durgin.”They were rewarded on the scoreboard today for weeks of hard work without the desired results. This is exactly the type of victory we needed.”Things got off to an ominous start for the Spartans who looked on as the sure-handed Abraham Toe fumbled the opening kick leading to a turnover.Any sense of panic was not noticeable as the visitor’s defense held its ground, forcing the Cougars into a 40-yard field goal attempt that would miss wide, off the foot of Jack Ryan.From there, Toe and Connor Sakowich would take it upon themselves to provide the locals with a much needed momentum boost, combining for 77 yards before the former scored from the goal line.Antonio Felix added a two-point conversion rush for an 8-0 lead at 4:37.Toe was right back in the thick of things on the hosts ensuing possession, picking off a Christian Rosati pass on third and five.”Abraham is an extremely reliable player and he wasn’t about to let that fumble affect the rest of his game,” said Durgin of the sophomore who would finish with 100 yards rushing in the half (131 total on 11 carries).After an exchange of turnovers on downs and a beautiful 62-yard pass from Felix to Toe, St. Mary’s upped its lead on a four yard score from Sakowich (102 yards on 17 carries), followed by another conversion by Felix.Toe took an inside handoff 63-yards to pay dirt before Sakowich’s conversion capped the scoring in the opening 22 minutes.”They’re so tough to stop because they compliment each other so well,” said Durgin of the two-headed rushing attack. “I have to give my offensive line a lot of credit today as well. They were controlling the play on both sides.”Much like its predecessor, the second half saw the Spartan’s offense active early, needing just three plays to open the scoring.Felix got the call on first and ten, scoring from 14 yards out up the middle before Sakowich made it 32-0 with a short rush.The latter would add a six-yard touchdown run at the 3:10 mark before turning the lions share over to James Brumfield who accumulated 54 yards on 5 touches, a 28-yard score included.Joe Fama’s conversion punctuated the visitors output 4:25 before Arlington Catholic broke the shutout on a four-yard run by Paul Solviletti followed by a Brendan Whitney conversion.”We’re going to enjoy this win for the time being but come tomorrow, it’ll be time to move on once we figure out who we’re up against,” said Durgin.