WEST ROXBURY — When star operating again Mekhi Dodd was injured in Catholic Memorial’s loss to Cardinal Newman of Florida final weekend, the Knights knew they’d be lacking among the best playmakers within the state.
But there have been nonetheless video games to be performed, and CM had sturdy gamers able to step in.
Behind the operating of Chris Sanchez and Lesean Sharp, CM rolled to a 50-36 victory Saturday in opposition to St. Francis of New York.
With the win, CM improves to 2-1, whereas St. Francis drops to 0-4.
“We have very limited depth,” CM coach John DiBiaso stated. “We go from seniors and juniors down to sophomores and freshmen real fast. We’re very fortunate. We had three guys at the beginning of the year. We lost one. We still have two.”
“The Florida game, it was obviously very humbling,” Sanchez stated. “We came off good, but we had too many injuries. (Against St. Francis), we just played CM football, really.”
Sanchez rushed for 4 touchdowns — all within the first half — and completed with 118 yards on 9 carries. Sharp rushed for 140 yards and two second-half touchdowns on 18 makes an attempt. CM quarterback Peter Bourque added a 54-yard landing run, and in addition accomplished 15 of 23 passes for 169 yards.
After struggling the lopsided defeat in Florida, the Knights have been as an alternative dishing it out Saturday. The closing rating was a bit deceptive, as the 2 St. Francis touchdowns within the fourth quarter got here in opposition to CM’s backup defenders.
Still, the primary half was aggressive. Sanchez opened the scoring within the first quarter with a 20-yard landing and two-point rush.
After St. Francis tied it on the following possession, Sanchez scored on a 16-yard run within the second quarter. Again, St. Francis answered, this time on a Kion Ulanga rush, and the PAT had the guests in entrance.
Two possessions later, Sanchez had his third on an 8-yard landing run. St. Francis tied it at 22 when Terrence Pendergrass capitalized on an interception and scored from 2 yards out.
Sanchez scored his fourth landing on a 29-yarder, and CM went into the break with a 29-22 lead.
From there, CM pulled away. Sharp had a 9-yard landing run, and Bourque had a powerful, 54-yard landing scramble within the third quarter. Sharp rushed for a 23-yard rating to start out the fourth quarter.
St. Francis has been in lots of out-of-state video games over time, and was requested how CM measured up in opposition to these different opponents.
“These guys are one of the bigger teams, size-wise,” St. Francis coach Jerry Smith stated of CM. “Their offensive and defensive lines are bigger than we faced in a long time. Maybe Akron (Archbishop) Hoban comes close to them. I know their best back wasn’t even playing. I saw him. He’s faster than anybody else they’ve got. I’m not glad to see he’s got an ACL. I wish he could have had something where it was just against us. Sad to see that, along with (Eric Perkins). He’s got it going on here, John. He’s doing a great job with these guys.”
