Sports

Another chapter, another draw

The latest chapter of the St. Francis Prep-Archbishop Molloy rivalry was played out at Cunningham Park on Tuesday afternoon and had a little bit of everything – emotion, hard tackles, a handful of yellow cards and a tinge of controversy.

However, no goals were scored and after almost three hours of soccer this season there is still nothing separating the two Queens rivals.

Terriers coach Franco Purificato hopes the final chapter is played out at St. John’s University’s Belson Stadium in the CHSAA Class A intersectional championship game.

“We’re writing a good story here,” Purificato said. “Hopefully this is what happens in the finals. This is what everyone wants to see, the league wants to see us and them. They don’t want to see anyone else. That’s going to fill the stands.”

For a regular-season game played in a public park, there was a large crowd along the sideline, including a rowdy contingent from Archbishop Molloy. Then again, this was no average league game.

A St. Francis Prep win would have wrapped up the Brooklyn/Queens crown for the Terriers and the division’s top seed for the upcoming intersectional playoffs. An Archbishop Molloy win would have put the Stanners in the driver’s seat to win another B/Q crown.

Instead, St. Francis Prep (7-0-3) maintains a five-point advantage over Molloy, although the Stanners have one game in hand. A win at home Thursday will wrap up the division for St. Francis Prep. Anything less will open the door for Molloy (5-0-4), which hosts Holy Cross Thursday and has a game against Xaverian to make up.

Archbishop Molloy coach Andy Kostel doesn’t view Tuesday’s draw as a missed chance to make a statement heading into the postseason.

“Statements only happen when you go and play the game, whatever day that is,” he said. “I’ve had plenty of teams make statements and then when they go and play a team again they’re not ready for them.”

Greg Davis had the game’s first scoring chance when he beat St. Francis Prep goalkeeper Joseph Cala to a ball in the box, but his acute angle shot was cleared off the line by a sliding Frank Pizzolla in the 18th minute.

Twenty minutes later, Cala mishandled a cross by Sean Towey, but the ball was again cleared for a corner.

Davis appeared to score the decisive goal five minutes into the second half when he put a sublime shot past Cala. The goal, though, was called off when the assistant referee ruled there was a foul by Molloy on the play. That came after a few confusing moments in which both teams’ coaches erupted.

“[The referee] said somebody pushed on the cross,” Kostel said. “That’s what his explanation was. What can I say?”

Said Davis: “I thought it was a goal. I didn’t really see the referee’s flag up or anything. I saw him point to the middle so I thought it was a goal. But if the [assistant referee] had his flag up, he had his flag up. It’s a fair call.”

Davis, one of the most sought-after seniors in the city, was relatively quiet. Purificato credits sophomore sweeper Christian Molano, but Kostel said Davis struggled to get into the game.

“When Greg stops the ball, it’s not good,” Kostel said. “I need him to keep moving. Sometimes I think he’s starting to feel the pressure of what a Greg Davis was instead of just playing a regular game.”

The senior midfielder placed the blame squarely on his shoulders.

“I’m disappointed with my game,” he said. “I don’t really know what it was. Nothing was going right. It was just a bad day for me.”

While no goals were scored, midfielders Frank Biordi of St. Francis Prep and Glenn Whelan of Molloy had the mud-stained uniforms that proved how hard fought the game was.

“It’s always the way it is between Molloy and Prep,” Whelan said. “They’re just our rivals.”

“It was a battle,” Biordi said. “Anytime we had the ball, him or me, we just went hard at each other. He played good though, he’s good. It was fun.”

So much fun that it left both sides, and their supporters, wanting more. Is a third and final chapter in the works?

“To be the best you have to beat the best,” Purificato said. “We don’t know who the best is right now.”

dbutler@nypost.com