St. John the Baptist upsets Chaminade
Just a few weeks ago, St. John the Baptist coach Andrew Herr said there was a significant gap between his team compared to St. Anthony’s and Chaminade. Both teams were ranked nationally and the Cougars bring back just one starter.
So far, Herr is wrong and he’s glad. St. John the Baptist upset host Chaminade, 2-0, today in a CHSAA game. Chaminade is ranked No. 12 nationally in the ESPN Powerade Fab 50.
“We were such underdogs,” Herr said. “We just wanted to execute a game plan, win or lose. We know this formula can work. We let them come to us and then attacked them at the midfield. We wanted to use our speed and take our chances. Player for player, those teams are more talented than us.”
With 13 minutes left in the game, Ian Stewart was on a breakaway and taken down from behind by a Chaminade player. That led to a penalty kick by Thomas O’Connor, who scored. Then Chaminade really applied the pressure. Three minutes later, the Cougars took advantage of another opportunity and Emmett O’Hara sent a cross to Stewart, who scored for a 2-0 lead.
“They had the better of the play and we got some good calls,” Herr said. “They had us on our heels for the last 10 minutes.
Michael Gaffary made 12 saves and O’Connor and James Manton anchored the defense.
The Cougars drew some confidence from a 1-0 loss to St. Anthony’s earlier in the week when they played the final 20 minutes one man down after a player received a red card.
“I’m a little surprised,” Herr said. “I have total faith in my boys, but I was worried about our inexperience, especially on Chaminade’s field”
Herr said he had a light practice yesterday where the team worked on finishing and penalty kicks.
“I didn’t want them to be nervous,” Herr said. “I wanted them to relax and have fun.”
It certainly was fun for the Cougars today.
