Raffa leads deep Friars to win over Xaverian
Charlie Raffa (7) of St. Anthony loses the ball as he is hit by Zyrel Hardy (10) of Xaverian. (Oct. 1, 2010) Credit: William Perlman
It was Diversity Night at St. Anthony's on Friday.
Six Friars - quarterback Charlie Raffa (64 yards) and backs Mike Schillizzi (69), Maston Ellerbe (41), Joseph LoCascio (34), Brian Sherlock (33) and Dariyan Riley (28) - totaled 269 rushing yards on 35 carries.
Everyone but Raffa scored a rushing TD (the QB, who was 6-for-9 for 50 yards, got his touchdown through the air), as the Friars earned a 43-21 homecoming victory over Xaverian on Friday night to improve to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the CHSFL.
"We do have a lot of depth, and the kids are staying unselfish,'' St. Anthony's coach Rich Reichert said. "They're buying into the system and willing to share carries.''
St. Anthony's capitalized on great field position to take an early lead. A snap over the Xaverian punter's head gave the Friars possession on the Clippers' 11-yard line, and two plays later, Riley waltzed into the end zone untouched to make it 7-0 St. Anthony's 4:10 into the game.
Two nifty passes with 2:09 left in the first quarter made it 15-0. On the first, Raffa rolled left and hit Brian Kensil, who made a leaping, over-the-shoulder catch in the back left corner of the end zone for a 23-yard score. On the point- after try, kicker Tony Yacenda, who was filling in for the injured James Doktor (broken wrist), took the direct snap and lofted a pass to Chris Hand for the two-point conversion.
Isaiah Kearney's 2-yard TD run on the first play of the second quarter pulled Xaverian (2-2, 1-2) back within a touchdown. But second-quarter scoring runs by LoCascio and Schillizzi, and two more PATs from Yacenda, gave St. Anthony's a 29-7 halftime lead.
Sherlock's blocked punt set up his 1-yard TD plunge four plays later to make it 36-7 with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter. On the ensuing drive, Xaverian's Zyrel Hardy caught a 50-yard bomb from Greg Rando for a score, but Ellerbe answered with a 3-yard scoring run with 9:48 left in the game.
St. Anthony's forced four turnovers, including a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Bryan Rhodes, who also had one of the Friars' three sacks. Kevin Long and Steven Giustino each had interceptions.
