BY PAUL LIOTTI
Aquinas proved it’s always better to have a superior air force when challenged by a lethal ground assault Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore QB Tyler Szalkowski assaulted the Buffalo’s St. Joseph Collegiate Marauders through the air, connecting with his sure-handed and speedy receivers all afternoon, completing 22 of 29 passes for 474 yards and 7 touchdowns. And the Irish defense bent but didn’t wilt against the huge St. Joe’s offensive line as they routed their Buffalo counterparts 49-21.
“We knew coming in they were much bigger than us and are a very good run-stopping team, but we knew if our offensive line could give Tyler time he would find his receivers,” AQ coach Derek Annechino said, whose team is a perfect 4-0 this season. “(Offensive Coordinator) Dan (Pincelli) found a lot things on film that we knew would be successful if we executed.”
Those ‘things’ were simple:
Give Szalkowski time to make the read, set up effective screens — both inside and outside – and get ball into the athletic Irish receivers’ hands in space to make a play.
Check, check, and check.
Szalkowski connected on TD passes of 14, 43, 30, 25, 76, 35 and 43 yards to 5 different receivers in a multitude of ways: long bombs, screen passes and crossing patterns. AQ needed every ounce of its passing game, as the Marauder defense shut down the Irish rushing game. Through 3 quarters, Aquinas (4-0) could only muster 59 yards on the ground and finished with 89 yards rushing.
“We pass the ball fairly regularly in all our games, but passing the ball doesn’t work unless we have our offensive line playing like they do,” Szalkowski said. “Our center (senior captain) Nick Annechino is the guy up front that really helps me out a lot and it’s also the athletes I have around me. I couldn’t do what I do without them.”
While Szalkowski defers the credit to those around him, it doesn’t deny the fact that his pocket presence belies his sophomore standing. Only a first-year starter, he plays more like a senior: standing tall in pocket when he has to, moving the pocket to the open areas and checking down to second, third and even fourth reads downfield.
Like he did to cap AQ’s first scoring drive, when he rolled right, avoided one tackler rolled all the way across the field and then found freshman Will Benjamin — who was definitely not the first option on the play — in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard strike.
Then after St. Joe’s responded with a time-consuming 14-play, 81-yard drive to tie the game at 7-all, senior captain WR Kobe McNair made the prettiest play of the day as he hauled in Szalkowski’s perfectly thrown 43-yard floating pass over the middle of the field. As McNair crossed the goal line, the ball was still in flight and laid out horizontally to snare the pigskin on his fingertips for the nifty touchdown.
AQ, which was playing its first game of the season at home and on its new turf, took a 21-7 lead on Pincelli’s perfectly drawn up 4th-and-8 screen play that sucked in the Marauder defense and James Jones rambled 30 yards with another pitch-and-catch score.
St. Joe’s (1-3) pulled within 21-14 midway through the 2nd on an 8-play, all-on-the-ground drive that covered 62 yards, and AQ was poised to answer but Szalkowski tossed his first interception of the season at the 3-yard line on a play he wishes he could take back as he forced the pass into a very small window without success.
Despite the Irish first-half fireworks, the Marauders kept hanging around thanks to their running game. That changed after halftime.
“We are very young on defense in the middle of the field; we have sophomores starting at our defensive tackles, our middle linebacker and our safety, and they haven’t faced a power-run team like that. It took them a while to adjust and Coach (Dave) Howett got them in the lockerroom, drew some things up and fixed everything.”
At least not right away.
After the Irish scored on the first possession of the second half – a 25-yard pass from Szalkowski to sophomore Ulysees Russell which was set up by his 40-yard completion to Kobe McNair – St. Joe’s pounded out a 52-yard drive all on the ground behind an offensive line that weighed in between 285 and 315 pound. The last 10 yards coming on a Tiernan Curtin 10-yard run up the middle through a gaping hole to pull St. Joe’s back with in 7 at 28-21
But after that, the Irish stopped the Marauders on defense, then watched as Szalkowski and his battery mates continued to dazzle the partisan Alumni Weekend crowd.
And it didn’t take long.
On the play after Curtin’s TD run, Russell broke free down the left sideline after catching a short pass and blazed untouched for a 76-yard touchdown pass to regain the 2-score cushion at 35-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
After stopping the Marauders on the next series, Irish RB Rueben Torres snatched the ball away from two would-be defenders on a center-screen and raced down the middle of the field for AQ’s 6th TD of the afternoon, effectively sealing the game with 11:08 left.
The Irish finished off the Marauders late in the fourth after forcing a fumble at their own 3-yard line which was recovered by Andre Gaskin. A 43-yard reception by Russell capped the 97-yard, 5-plus minute drive and closed out the scoring, 49-21.
“In practice we go over the plays a lot and make sure we work hard and expect Tyler to get us the ball, and he does,” said Russell, who finished as the games leading receiver with 5 catches for 182 yards and 3 scores. “Tyler is a great quarterback to puts the ball right where it needs to be every time.”
Russell was one of 3 Irish receivers who topped the century mark on the afternoon. Joining him was McNair with 133 on 5 catches and 1 score; and Jones 113 yards on 8 catches and 1 score. Irish kicker Joe Broncho was perfect on the afternoon, splitting the uprights on all 7 attempts.
The Irish stay at home next week hosting Friendship Collegiate out of Washington, D.C., before hosting their arch-rival McQuaid in two weeks.
***Tyler Szalkowski’s passing numbers were updated after the release of final stats found here.
| St Joseph’s | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Aquinas | 14 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 49 |
| Scoring | |||||||
| AQ | Will Benjamin 14 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| STJ | David Morgan 1 run (Sam Murphy kick) | ||||||
| AQ | Will Benjamin 43 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| AQ | James Jones 30 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| STJ | David Morgan 14 run (Sam Murphy kick) | ||||||
| AQ | Ulysees Russell 25 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| STJ | Tiernan Curtin 10 run (Sane 10 yards TOUCDHON Kick Good | ||||||
| AQ | Ulysees Russell 76 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| AQ | Rueben Torres 35 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| AQ | Ulysees Russell 43 pass from Tyler Szalkowski (Joe Bronco Kick) | ||||||
| Rushing | |
| St Joes | David Morgan Jr. 21-149, Micah Brown 11-60, Tiernan Curtin 9-34, Anthony McCarley 5-26 |
| Aquinas | Ruben Torres 10-55, Damon Montomgery 4-25, James Jones 1-21, Tyler Szalkowski 2-(-4), Kobe McNair 1-(-8) |
| Passing | |
| St Joes | Micah Brown 8-11-114-0-0 |
| Aquinas | Tyler Szalkowski 21-28-453-7-1 |
| Receiving | |
| St Joes | Sam Kline 2-38, Vincent Lomeo 2-32, Anthony McCarley 3-27, Tiernan Curtin 1-17 |
| Aquinas | Ulysees Russell 5-182, Kobe McNair 5-133, James Jones 8-113, Will Benjamin 1-14, Ruben Torres 1-6, Isaac Bushen 1-5 |
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