Chaminade rallies but loses to Xaverian
Chaminade running back #32 Daniel Fowler rushes for yardage in the first quarter vs. Xaverian (Brooklyn, NY). Xaverian won the game 20-14. (Sept. 18, 2010) Credit: James Escher
Chaminade's Dan Fowler needed a second to catch his breath as he unhooked his pads after a 21-carry performance. Quarterback Joseph Anile IV needed to do the same after he took a punishing hit from the blind side while trying to rally his team late in the game.
And the crowd of nearly 1,000 at Chaminade needed to catch its collective breath after it saw the Flyers' late charge fall short in a 20-14 loss to Xaverian yesterday in a CHSAA football game.
Down by six, Chaminade's Greg Rhodes recovered a fumble on his own 46-yard line with 1:12 left. The Flyers drove to the Xaverian 37, but Anile's fourth-and-8 pass was batted away with 5.8 seconds left to seal the win for the Clippers (2-0). Chaminade has lost its first two games by a combined nine points.
"We don't know how to win yet," Chaminade coach Stephen Boyd said. "We make too many mistakes and we don't know how to finish."
On the final drive, Anile found Zach Ogilvie for 15 yards to convert a fourth-and-10. On the next play, Anile was pummeled from behind and had to come out for one play with an injury. Kyle Johnson replaced him and threw an incomplete pass on his only snap.
Laray Smith scored on a 20-yard run up the middle to give Xaverian a 20-7 lead with 5:54 left, but Chaminade answered. Fowler, who finished with 139 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, scored on a two-yard run to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive that took 3:38. Kevin Donohue's extra point made it 20-14 with 2:16 remaining.
Xaverian couldn't run out the clock, though, fumbling the exchange on third-and-16. It was the second forced turnover by Rhodes, who also intercepted a pass on the second play of the second half. Fowler scored two plays after the pick on a 19-yard run to tie it at 7.
Turnovers also were a problem for the Flyers, who lost a pair of fumbles and threw an interception. The second lost fumble led to Isaiah Kearney's second TD run of the day, a 27-yard burst on third-and-14.
"It's something we've got to work on mentally," Fowler said of the turnovers. "And we'll fix it next week in practice."
Another area Chaminade likely will try to hone during the week is its play in the secondary, as Xaverian quarterback Greg Rando torched the Flyers for 182 yards on 12-for-20 passing. Kendall Thomas had 94 of those yards on five catches in the first half, but was injured on the last play before halftime and spent the second half on the sideline with his right arm in a sling.
Said Boyd: "We did do a lot of good things, but obviously we don't know how to win yet, and that's the key. That's doing all the little things right."
