St. Joe's Dominates, Advances to Monsignor Martin Semi-Finals

St. Joe's players after they dominated Cardinal O'Hara 48-6

Execution was the word on every player’s mind Saturday afternoon as St. Joe’s dominated Cardinal O’Hara to advance to the MonsignorMartin semifinals.

            The Marauders controlled the game from the outset, routing the Hawks 48-6 on a cold, windy day at Robert T. Scott field.

            “It was a good performance,” said St. Joe’s running back Ilo Noble. “We came out fast, just like how coach told us to do, and we executed a lot of plays.”

            Noble set the tone early, with a 36-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. He followed that with a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown to put the Marauders up 14-0 less than four minutes into the game.

            Junior Rod Payne took over from there, punching it into the end zone three times, with touchdown runs of 12, 27 and 37 yards.

            “I give all the credit to my line,” he said after the game, shivering in the cold fall air. “They came out and blocked hard, executed, and we got it done.”

            Payne finished the game with 142 yards on eight carries, with three touchdowns. He didn’t play at all in the second half.

            St. Joe’s went in to halftime winning 42-6. They had 234 yards of offense on just 13 plays, and had the ball for only 5:45 through two quarters.

            “We just came out and took care of business right away, and that’s the name of the game,” St. Joe’s coach Dennis Gilbert said after the game. “We talked about it, we wanted to get in, get off to a fast start and be smart.”

            The Marauders did all of those things Saturday, and after the game, players and coaches were already focused on their next game, Thursday night against Timon.

            “This time, we have to make sure we limit our turnovers,” said Payne. “No turnovers would be a great game, so if we limit our turnovers, we give ourselves a great shot to win the game.”

            Noble, one of the senior leaders on St. Joe’s got an extremely focused look in his eye when talking about Timon outside of the locker room after the game.

            “We came off a tough loss, but we kept our heads right, so we just have to get ready for Timon at the Ralph,” he said. “Execute and no turnovers.”

            Gilbert shared the sentiment, and offered insight into the team’s mindset ahead of their rematch against the Trojans.

            “Listen, we lost 2 games this year, and I told the boys, ‘you play you’re cards right, you get a chance to avenge both of them,’ and that’s motivation enough,” he said.

            Next week’s game between the Marauders and Trojans will be at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The teams will play at 5 p.m. for the right to play the winner of the other semi-final game for the Monsignor Martin championship.