St. Anne’s-Belfield’s football team seemed confident all year that things were going to turn around, particularly when the Saints reached a stretch of winnable games in the second half of the season.
So far, so good.
A week after ending a 14-game slide that stretched from the 2012 season opener until last week against North Cross, STAB edged out Isle of Wight Friday for a 10-7 victory that pushed the Saints to 2-4 on the season.
STAB scored late in the first quarter when Cameron Paton connected on a 30-yard field goal and that 3-0 advantage held up going into halftime. Then midway through the third quarter, Lee Parkhill found Kareem Johnson for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Saints up 10-0.
From there, STAB held on as Isle of Wight scored with 20 seconds to go in the third quarter to pull within three points at 10-7. But the STAB defense stood tall and held Isle of Wight scoreless in the fourth quarter to preserve the win.
Isle of Wight managed just 178 yards of total offense against the Saints.
Lee Parkhill led the Saints’ offensive attack with 189 yards and the touchdown to Johnson on 11 of 29 passing. He found Johnson six times for 87 yards and the score and hit Jalen Harrison for two big catches for 94 yards.
Brodie Phillips gave the Saints some pop in the run game with 49 yards on 14 touches.
STAB now lines up against Covenant Friday in a cross-town rivalry game with the Eagles.
