Raffa helps St. Anthony's gain another CHSFL final
St. Anthony's High School quarterback #7 Charlie Raffa throws a pass in the second quarter. (Nov. 12, 2010) Credit: James Escher
In a showdown of two of the best quarterbacks in the CHSFL, St. Anthony's Charlie Raffa outdueled his cannon-armed counterpart from Fordham Prep, Max Kinder.
Raffa was 6-for-8 for 178 yards and threw a season-high three touchdowns as No. 1 St. Anthony's advanced to its 12th straight CHSFL final with a 39-14 win over previously undefeated Fordham Prep at home Friday night. The win was the 200th in the illustrious career of Friars coach Rich Reichert. In 24 seasons, he is 200-48-3.
"Winning 200 games means one thing, I'm getting old," Reichert said.
The Friars, who have won 18 straight games, will be going for their second straight title and ninth in the last 10 years when they play the winner of Saturday's Iona Prep-Holy Trinity matchup next Saturday at Mitchel Athletic Complex.
Raffa's touchdown tosses included a 69-yard catch-and-run to Dariyan Riley, a 10-yarder to Brian Kensil, and a gorgeous 34-yarder to Kensil on which the receiver made a one-handed grab in the end zone despite being held. Kensil caught four passes for 100 yards and two scores on the night, and Raffa had 60 yards on the ground.
"I didn't expect to have this big of a game, the game plan was to run it up the middle," Kensil said. "Charlie threw great passes all day."
Kinder was 15-for-24 passing for 145 yards, but was picked off three times. James Mercurio, Tim Stackpole and Durelle Napier had interceptions.
Mike Schillizzi capped the opening drive, a 10-play, 80-yard march, with a 1-yard plunge off-tackle into the end zone to give the Friars a 7-0 lead 4:15 into the game.
The No. 4 Rams (9-1) answered on a 13-yard play that culminated with a 1-yard scoring sneak by the 230-pound Kinder. The quarterback, who was 3-for-3 for 70 yards on the drive, hit speedster Devin Rice on a 39-yard bomb down the right sideline on a third-and-16 to keep the drive moving.
But the Friars found the scoreboard just 16 seconds later. On the first play of the drive, Raffa hit Riley in the right flat and he turned on the jets for a 69-yard touchdown to give St. Anthony's a 14-7 lead.
Brian Sherlock extended the lead to 20-7 when he took an option right, cut back and went 34 yards for a touchdown with 10:09 remaining in the second quarter. James Doktor missed a 35-yard field-goal attempt on the Friars' next drive, breaking a streak of nine straight drives resulting in points for the first-team offense dating to last week's win over St. Joseph by the Sea.
The drought didn't last long. After Mercurio's interception, Kensil outjumped a defender to haul in Raffa's 10-yard scoring strike to make it 26-7 with under a minute left in the first half.
