By Aaron Perryman/ Scrimmageplay.com Contributor
With the score knotted at zero to begin the second half, it took St. Anne’s Belfield all of 54 seconds and three plays to finally put the game’s first touchdown on the scoreboard. From there, the Saints cruised to a 28-0 home win over Trinity Episcopal Friday night, STAB’s first of the season.
“I told the kids at halftime we were killing ourselves,” said STAB coach John Blake. “We did get a little momentum going and we would do something to mess it up. We’d make a bonehead play — snap the ball and hit the guy in the face — we would figure out ways to destroy our offense in the first half.”
After senior running back Willie McGhee took the second half kickoff all the way to the Trinity 43-yard line, STAB (1-2) reached down into its bag of tricks to jumpstart the offense against the Titans (2-2).
On the Saints’ second play, sophomore quarterback Jacob Rainey gave the ball to senior running back Aaron Clark, who then handed it to senior receiver Joseph Stuart on a reverse, who then tossed it back to Rainey. Rainey launched the ball down field and Clark — who had taken off down the sideline — pulled the ball in around the 10-yard line and was tackled at the 6. From there, Clark waltzed into the end zone and the rout was on. Blake simply called the play a flea flicker, but it looked more complicated than that.
“We knew we had a good setup with the flea flicker play,” Blake said, noting the Titan defense was loading up against run. “We knew if we got past the 50 we were going to run [the play]. Jake made a great throw to Aaron, then Aaron took it in.”
Following a quick Trinity three-and-out, STAB scored even more quickly on its next drive. On the drive’s second play, McGhee broke through the line, stiff-arming a defender on his way to a 33-yard touchdown scamper. Clark and McGhee combined for 253 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries on the evening. McGhee also delivered a number of punishing blows playing in the defensive secondary.
“We had to step it up,” Clark said. “We were making mistakes on offense [in the first half] and we capitalized in the second half.”
“That’s a terrific combination because there’s always a set of fresh legs coming at you,” said Trinity coach Eric Gobble, referencing the two backs. “When [Blake] had both of them in the backfield together, you knew they weren’t going to pass the ball, but it still made them a very dangerous offense. It was fun to see.”
Though STAB was potent on the ground, it also made some strides in the passing game. Blake started freshman Jack Yost at quarterback for senior Owen Van Arsdale, out with a concussion suffered in the Saints’ last game. Though Yost got the start, Rainey took most of the snaps, spreading the ball to seven different receivers while completing 8 of his 16 passes for 138 yards, one touchdown and one pick. The touchdown came on a beautiful 26-yard throw to sophomore tight end Shane Palmateer with 10:37 left in the fourth, making the score 21-0. Blake admitted to setting up a quarterback competition this week in practice to push the play of his signal-callers.
“When you have competition everybody gets more involved,” Blake said. “It was good for us this week. I think it’s obvious that the way Jacob played this week was probably because of the competition we had this week during practice.”
Blake added he thinks Van Arsdale could play next weekend but hasn’t thought about who might start under center.
Meanwhile, STAB’s defense shut down a dangerous Titan passing game. Last week, senior quarterback Will White passed for six touchdowns in a 48-19 pounding of Norfolk Academy, but the Saints limited him to 15-of-37 passing for 101 yards.
“We strive to have balance but anyone that plays us knows that we’re most dangerous passing the ball,” Gobble said. “If you can take that element away from us, then you’ve got a good chance.”
Added Blake: “Our defense has played great all year, and we’ve just stunk it up offensively quite honestly—all the way to this third quarter—but once you get a little confidence, it’s amazing what you can do.”
