There were a few big-time matchups on the football field Friday evening with one of those games being decided in the final minutes of play. In boys’ soccer action, CBC won their tournament for the time in many years while the Westminster softball team claimed the Fort Zumwalt East tournament.
Time to get caught up on a busy weekend of action in today’s edition of the Monday Morning Wrap-up.
In a rare game that saw defending state champions play each other in the regular season, St. Mary’s used both their high-powered offense and solid special teams play to pull away from Lutheran St. Charles 56-20 Friday evening in St. Peters. After the Dragons took a 21-14 lead at the end of the first half, Jamal Roberts scored on a 99-yard touchdown run to give St. Mary’s a 28-14 lead early in the third quarter. The Cougars responded on the ensuing kickoff as Michael Parr Jr., raced 96-yards on the return to cut the Dragons lead to 28-20. The St. Mary’s special teams then took control as Roberts brought the kickoff back 88-yards to give the Dragons a 35-20 lead. The Dragons defense took over at that point as they did not allow the Cougars to score again in the half. Roberts accounted for a total of five touchdowns on the night while his brother, John Jr., added two more scores to help the Dragons improve to 3-1 on the year.
After an 0-3 start, Adam Cruz earned his first win as the interim head coach at St. Louis University High School as the Jr. Bills upset Vashon 43-15 Friday evening. The Wolverines opened the scoring in the first quarter as Dierre Hill Jr., returned a punt 64 yards to the house to put Vashon on top 7-0. SLUH answered on their next possession as Zach Ortwerth scored from a yard out to even the game at 7-7. Ryan Wingo pushed the advantage to 21-7 in the second quarter as he scored on a 35-yard pass from Marco Sansone and then brought back a punt return 65-yards with less than a minute remaining in the half to put SLUH ahead 21-7. Hill scored his second touchdown on the night as he collected a 52-yard pass from Malious Cain to cut the advantage to 21-15. That is as close as Vashon would get as Sansone tossed two more touchdown strikes and Jordan Taylor scored on the ground to help SLUH earn their first win of the season. Sansome finished the night with 11 completions for 252 yards and three scores while Wingo caught four of those passes for 124 yards and two scores.
SLUH Varsity Football, St. Louis MO
In probably the best game of the weekend, O’Fallon overcame a 17-7 halftime deficit and scored with 1:25 left in the game, and made the two-point conversion to upend Edwardsville 32-31 to remain perfect on the year. With the Tigers holding a 17-10 lead after three quarters, Daion Gaston collected a 44-yard pass from Jake Curry to help Edwardsville extend the lead to 24-10. That is when the Panthers comeback would begin as Colt Michael found Jalen Smith for a 53-yard score to cut the Tigers lead to 24-17. Edwardsville again would score three minutes later a De’Shawn Larson found the endzone from 21 yards out to push the lead to 31-17. O’Fallon answered with a Chris Caldwell one-yard touchdown run with 3:33 remaining to cut the Tigers lead to 31-24. The Panthers defense then forced a punt and need only two plays to take the lead with 1:25 remaining as Michael found Christian Joiner on a 62-yard pass play to put O’Fallon behind 31-30. After deciding to go for a two-point conversion, Michael completed the comeback as he hit Caldwell in the endzone to give the Panthers a 32-31. Edwardsville had one more chance to regain the lead, but the Panthers defense held on to claim the victory.
On the soccer pitch, CBC won a pair of games to win their tournament for the first time since 2012 as the Cadets defeated SLUH 4-1 Saturday afternoon. CBC took an early advantage as Dominic Bartoni scored to put the Cadets on the board 1-0. Ryan Rook added to the lead midway through the first half on a breakaway to push the CBC lead to 2-0. The Jr. Bills cut the lead in half in the third minute of the second half as Grant Locker scored from the dot to make the score 2-1. But, the Cadets answered just a few minutes later as Charlie Sharamitaro scored off a corner kick to extend the lead to 3-1. Donovan Tabb sealed the deal for the Cadets with 11 minutes remaining in the game to help CBC improve to 6-4 on the year.
The Westminster softball team moved their record to 8-3 on the year by winning the Fort Zumwalt East tournament over the weekend. The Wildcats won their first game of the Invite 16-10 over St. Charles West. Westminster then won their semifinal game against North Point 7-6 before defeating St. Charles 16-2 to claim the title.
It will be a busy week in prep sports as we are in the midst of conference play in all the sports while many of the top volleyball teams in the area will head to Oakville for the Gateway Classic, which begins Wednesday evening.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
