Jayson Holt had seen this before.
A year ago, the Mount St. Michael quarterback was tackled just shy of the first down on the final play of the CHSFL AAA championship game, sealing a St. Anthony’s title.
Yesterday, Scott Vallone made the game-saving play, which Holt knew he was capable of.
“He’s a great player and he wore us down,” Holt said. “He never stops. I thought I had the first down, but he got me.”
Vallone spent almost the entire second half disrupting the Mount’s offense and then finished off the Friars’ win when he stopped a scrambling Holt at the St. Anthony’s 15 yard line, a yard shy of the first down on fourth-and-nine with 59 seconds left as St. Anthony’s beat the Mount in the CHSFL AAA title game for the second straight year, this time winning 26-20 at Hofstra.
The championship was St. Anthony’s seventh consecutive, and neither came easily against the Mountaineers. And without Vallone’s performance, the Friars probably wouldn’t have gotten it.
After being fairly well contained before halftime, the Rutgers’ bound Vallone – playing in front of Greg Schiano – made numerous key plays, including a fumble recovery on a play in which Holt was brought down with under five minutes to go and Mount clinging to a 20-18 lead.
On the next play, Nick Mercurio bolted 39 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 4:37 left.
And then Mount’s final drive came up short.
“Every time I looked up, he was making another tackle in the backfield,” St. Anthony’s QB James Brady said of Vallone.
Added Mount head coach Mario Valentini: “I think we made him mad. I think we made him angry. He was too much for us.”
The Mount, which ended the Friars’ 64-game regular-season league winning streak with a 22-12 upset in September, and was in search of its first title in 10 years, looked to have them on the ropes again when Isiah Moody opened the second half by returning the kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. The conversion gave the Mountaineers a 20-12 lead.
Atiq Lucas got St. Anthony’s back into the game with a 25-yard TD run on the Friars’ next possession. Holt had two rushing TDs, but it wasn’t enough. Vallone made sure of that.
“Holt is so shifty and such a hard guy to bring down,” Vallone said. “That’s all we were trying to do.”
When it mattered most, Vallone did just that.
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Rashaad Slowley rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns to lead fifth-seeded Stepinac to its first CHSFL AA title in 12 years with a 47-12 over No. 7 Christ the King yesterday, also at Hofstra.
CHSFL AAA FINAL St. Anthony’s 26 The Mount 20