By Jared Keene
NEFJ Correspondent
WESTWOOD – On a night when every single yard mattered, it was Xaverian’s defense that proved to be the hero.
Leading by eight as time ticked away, the Hawks were going to have to lock in and make the necessary plays needed to beat a quality Central Catholic squad.
Twice the Raiders had the ball in Xaverian territory with under 2 minutes remaining, but twice the Hawks came up with massive stops, ultimately emerging with a 28-20 victory on Friday night.
“First off, this win is very important for our program,” Xaverian coach Al Fornaro said after his team improved to 3-1. “Central Catholic is a very good program and they’re really well-coached. But I’m very proud of the defense. The defense kept us in the game and gave our offense the opportunity to score. We play hard and we practice situations like two-minute defense.
“And when push came to shove there late in the game, I didn’t see our guys whine. They went out, played some more, and were able to seal the victory.”
Following a Xaverian touchdown, the Raiders (2-3) started with the ball on their own 36 with 6:43 left to play.
Central Catholic slowly moved the ball downfield, with quarterback Caden Smith even converting a 4th-and-3. But four plays later, the Raiders faced a 4th-and-1 and this time, Smith was stuffed up the gut.
That gave the Hawks the ball with 1:42 on the clock. On the first play, senior captain Vincent Busa (two rush TD) carried the ball and appeared to be down by contact after picking up roughly 8 yards. But all of a sudden, Connor Grella had the ball for the visitors and started running before being brought down at the X 30.
Peter Matheos came up with a big sack on second down and two plays later, Central Catholic faced a 4th-and-15. Smith lofted the ball downfield, but it was picked off by Dave Chiavegato to finally seal it.
“I know I was down, but that final stand was awesome,” Busa said. “Being a defensive player too, that’s all I can ask for. We just had to get tougher than them and not get pushed back, and that’s what we did.”
With the Hawks up 21-20, their defense forced a punt on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Xaverian then put together a 10-play drive lasting 5:06 that ended with Will Wood (two pass TD) finding a wide open Will Benting for an 8-yard score and a 28-20 lead with 6:48 to play.
“That felt great,” Benting said. “I always love getting the ball in my hands and whenever it comes to me, I’m looking to score.”
“We pounded the ball all that drive,” Wood said. “We liked what we saw and we wanted to catch them off guard, so we went hurry-up, play-action, and he was wide open in the back of the end zone. That was a big drive for us because it gave us some momentum, especially for the defense going there knowing we had an eight point lead.”
The game actually got off to a wild start, as each team came away with points on their first two offensive possessions.
Wood hit Christian McIntyre for a 41-yard score to open the scoring before Smith hit Grella – on a ball tipped by McIntyre – for a 73-yard touchdown. Busa responded by taking a handoff 34 yards to the house and then the Hawks defense came up big in the red zone, forcing a Drew O’Keefe 23-yard field goal.
Busa’s second touchdown – this one from three yards out – made it 21-10 before Smith scored on a 4-yard keeper with 14 seconds left in the first half.