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St. Mary’s dominates action-packed game

By Tim Haran Daily Planet Correspondent
Monday October 30, 2000

Panthers headed for showdown with Piedmont 

 

The St. Mary’s High Panthers traveled to Vallejo Friday and defeated the St. Patrick/St. Vincent Bruins 48-28 in an offense-dominated game that saw the teams combine for 10 touchdowns and two field goals. 

The Panthers improved to 3-0 in the Bay Shore Athletic League with the win and face John Swett High on the road this week before returning to Berkeley to play Piedmont High in a game that could decide the league championship. 

Following St. Mary’s opening kickoff, it took only 45 seconds for St. Patrick/St. Vincent to put points on the board. On 3rd-and-10, Bruins’ running back Pat O’Donnell broke through the Panthers’ defense and raced 80 yards to the end zone for the first of his two touchdowns. Evan Kestloot added the extra point to give the home team a 7-0 lead. 

On its next series St. Patrick/St. Vincent turned the ball over on downs and St. Mary’s took over. Junior running back Phil Weatheroy found a seam and scampered 79 yards untouched for the Panthers’ first score of the game. Pat Barry, who is transitioning from the soccer field to the gridiron, added the point after on his way to an 8-for-8 kicking performance.  

But the game was tied for just 41 seconds when Bruins’ quarterback Alex Vasquez ran for 46 yards before running back Justin Eweres ran another 24 yards untouched for the first of his two touchdowns and the second St. Patrick/St. Vincent score of the game.  

Still in the first quarter, the Panthers countered. A mere 48 seconds later, St. Mary’s Trestin George rolled to the right and ran 49 yards down the sideline to even the score 14-14 with 1:32 left in the opening period. 

“We had a shaky start, but everything came together for us,” said George, who scored three touchdowns. “We’re a good team, we play as one unit and by the second half we stepped it up.” 

St. Mary’s didn’t trail for the rest of the game. A pair of field goals by Barry before the end of the half gave the Panthers a 27-14 lead heading into the locker room. 

Known for its explosive running game, St. Mary’s didn’t attempt a pass until the 3:03 mark of the second quarter. Panthers’ quarterback Jason Washington went 2-for-6 on the night, but both completions resulted in touchdowns. With 2:12 left in the third quarter, George caught a screen pass and ran 26 yards for the score. Wide receiver Courtney Brown caught the second TD pass with 10:17 left in the game. 

“That wasn’t by design,” said Panthers’ coach Dan Shaughnessy, referring to the team’s few pass attempts. “Our best receiver (Omar Young) went down, so we had to scrap our double tight, double flanker set. We went back to our old horse and buggy offense.” 

After the win, George admitted he’s looking forward to the season finale against Piedmont, and may even be looking past John Swett. 

“We’re going to go out there and crush them (John Swett), hopefully make them quit in the first half,” he said. “We’ll stomp them into the ground and get ready for Piedmont.” 

Shaughnessy knows his team’s offense is potent, but he also recognized that St. Mary’s defense has to improve its consistency for the final two games of the year. 

“We’ve put up a lot of points on the year, but it isn’t a patient offense,” he said. “We’ve got to get more consistent on defense to hold these teams.”