Oct. 1, 2021: St. Mary’s football defeated Bishop Fenwick in overtime, 21-19 — a brutal way to lose what was then their first game of the season for Fenwick. Tonight, there was an overtime rematch.
A fair description of St. Mary’s David Brown: fast. He was responsible for the first points of the game, bolting down the right sideline for a 29-yard score (7-0 after kick).
On Fenwick’s debut drive, Kurtis Brush nearly hauled in a remarkable circus catch, only for the ball to dribble off the ground on his way down. The team was forced to punt.
As expected, both sides of the bleachers were rowdy — reacting to nearly every play and only vamping the already-intense atmosphere.
Later on, after scoring his first points down the right side of the field, Brown took things left and zoomed to another touchdown. After side-swiping a white jersey, there was nothing but green grass in front of him. The lead doubled to 14-0.
What looked like a situation where St. Mary’s would run away with the momentum – and possibly the game – Fenwick had other plans. Quarterback Bryce Leaman threw a bomb to captain Costa Beechin who reached around two defenders to haul it in — taking the ball 75-yards to the house. The highlight reel-catch cut the score in half (point after).
In the waning minute of the first quarter, Brown looked like he was on his way to a first quarter hat-trick of touchdowns, but an 81-yard burst was called back — much to the disappointment of the St. Mary’s faithful.
Nevertheless, attention on Brown was of the utmost importance for Fenwick. They started to control him early on in the second quarter on consecutive runs, but it didn’t last long as Brown picked up another 18 yards just a play later.
Later on in the drive, Beechin made his presence felt on the defensive end this time — intercepting a St. Mary’s pass and providing a short field for his team.
Captain Troy Irizarry then caught a 17-yard pass that put his team on the St. Mary’s side of the field. Leaman would keep the ball himself two plays later for a gain of 11 yards.
For St. Mary’s, Tommy Falasca drew cheers from the crowd after plowing through the offensive line and taking down Leaman hard onto the turf. Later on, in the same set of downs, an overthrown screen pass on fourth down gave the ball back to the home team.
With 20-seconds left in the half, St. Mary’s Jack Marks wrapped up Leaman behind the line of scrimmage and threw him to the ground — giving momentum to his team heading into the break.
Brown led the way for St. Mary’s in the first half with over 100 yards rushing.
Maddox Romero started the third quarter right for them as well, intercepting a Leaman ball at the 6-yard line to halt the Fenwick drive. When he returned to the bench, dozens of navy blue jerseys swarmed him in celebration.
After completing a pass at around the 6-minute mark of the third quarter, Leaman showed off his dual-threat talents — spinning around two defenders to pick up another first down at midfield.
After a long Fenwick drive that resulted in no points, the third quarter came to a close with the score still 14-7.
After one last attempt from Fenwick in the fourth quarter, they did just that with only 53 seconds remaining after a St. Mary’s fumble – tying things up at 14.
In overtime, Fenwick struck first, but their attempt at two points failed – leaving the door open for St. Mary’s to potentially win the heated contest.
Brown would continue to shine, scoring a touchdown to tie the game at 20 in overtime. He was stopped at the goal line during the 2-point conversion, however.
The game would come to an end in double overtime with Fenwick’s Anthony Nichols running into the endzone. The final score read 26-20, and Fenwick stayed undefeated.
