Farrell junior John Gogarty recovers a fumble to set up the lone touchdown for the Lions. (Bill Gogarty)
Joe Colucci wasn’t exactly aware of what he had done initially.
The Farrell defensive lineman came running around the right side and hit St. Francis Prep quarterback Ryan Paccione, who braced for impact, from behind. As Paccione landed, the ball popped loose and rolled towards the goal line.
“I didn’t know it was a fumble until I saw a scramble for the ball,” Colucci said.
The fight ended with the ball being recovered by John Gogarty on the 5-yard line and taken in on the Lions’ next play from scrimmage by Michael Viegas to give Farrell all the points it would need late in the first quarter. Farrell’s defense did the rest, holding off visiting St. Francis Prep, 9-6, in CHSFL ‘AAA’ football Saturday afternoon. The victory is the Lions’ second straight and third overall, matching their win total from a year ago.
“We made it a point not to be another Farrell team in this constant snow ball down to another bad season,” Colucci said. “We are trying to make this a turnaround season.”
The Lions led just 7-6 at the half of a game that saw heavy rain throughout. The Terriers answered Viegas’ touchdown with a 12-play, 70-yard drive on the legs of senior Chris Brudi, who rushed for 39 of his 53 yards on the drive. Receiver Bryan Caffrey made a brilliant catch coming back on a ball along the sidelines and keeping his feet inbounds at the 1-yard line. It set up a Douby Richie touchdown run that had SFP feeling pretty good about itself going into the break.
The warm feelings were short lived. Nick Ingram bobbled the second half’s opening kickoff, was forced to run backward and had the ball knocked loose by Farrell’s Kevin Cormican. It was recovered in the end zone for a safety to put the Lions up, 9-6. It was the second safety recorded by Farrell this season. The defense also collected two late inteceptions.
“Our special teams played real well today,” Farrell coach Ben Sarullo said. “Our defense came to play.”
SFP failed to take advantage for two turnovers by Farrell (3-1, 2-1 CHSFL ‘AAA’), a fumble in the first quarter and a Caffrey interception in the third quarter and was pushed back because of penalties. The Terriers, who rarely had great field position in the second half, never really got going on offense outside of its one scoring drive.
Their defense, though, was superb, limiting a Lions running game that rushed for more than 300 yards in a win over Xaverian last week. Charles Kamara rushed for 79 yards on 18 carries and Viegas ran it 18 times for 66 yards. St. Francis Prep (0-4, 0-3) was extra motivated as it playing without legendary head coach Vince O’Connor on the sidelines. He was serving a one-game suspension after he was ejected from last week’s loss to Fordham Prep for arguing a call.
“This is the third week in a row we feel like we played with one of the top teams in the league,” said assistant coach Richie Carroll, who filled in for O’Connor. “We felt it could have gone the other way very easily. We are a step away.”
The Lions, fresh off two wins, are again moving in the direction they want to. Farrell will get a big test against Holy Cross next week at home.
“We are just trying to build momentum for next week,” Cormican said. “Keep the train rolling.”