By PAUL LIOTTI
When you are on top, you wear the target.
And when you’re threatened, you turn to those that have been there before: namely a core group of battle-tested seniors who did not want to relinquish their title on this chilly October night.
That’s exactly what McQuaid did Friday night, as it set aside a strong East squad 56-30 on the strength of a 35-point second half and claimed its fourth-consecutive RCAC title on Senior Night.
All year long the Knights (6-1) have relied on their seniors to forge victory, and the de-facto RCAC championship game was no different as seniors Hunter Walsh, Connor Zamiara, Mark Passero and Ben Beauchamp all came through for McQuaid.
Walsh, a three-year starter, connnected on 16-of-27 passes for 244 yards and tossed 4 touchdown passes – three to Zamiara and one to Beauchamp – and Mark Passero darted across the goal line three times to turn what was a tight game at halftime into a statement win.
“This has been our title for the past few years and we needed to come out and protect our home field and our title,” Zamiara said. “We’re very happy with where we are right now heading into Sectionals.”
East (6-1), which came into the game riding a 10-game winning streak dating back to last year and a defense that had allowed a paltry 25 points all season, stayed close into the third quarter, but the Knights proved too much for the Eagles to handle.
The game was a lot closer than the final score indicated as East matched McQuaid blow-for-blow through the first two quarters and trailed just 21-18 at halftime. The Eagles actually led at one point in the second quarter – 12-7 – after East scored two consecutive times, one a four-yard pass from Anthony Gilbert to Yasir Daniels and an eight-yard run by Freddie Brock.
East helped build that lead by forcing McQuaid (No. 13 NYSSA Class AA) out of its comfort zone for the first 1 ½ quarters. McQuaid was struggling to gain a rhythm with its West-Coast passing attack, and its lone highlight was a five-yard scoring pass from Walsh to Beauchamp on the opening series for McQuaid.
So the McQuaid coaching staff decided to mix it up.
“It was a little different scheme for us tonight and I really liked the way our guys responded,” McQuaid coach Bobby Bates said. “We came into this game thinking we were going to do one thing, but we had to adjust our sails a little bit in-game. East played some of the things we wanted to do very well which forced us to do some things a little differently.”
The Knights have relied all year on their up-tempo offense to set up the run, which stretches the defense to open up the middle for the rushing attack. As the game got underway, the Eagles took away some of Walsh’s favorite targets he found it difficult to complete patterns that have been there all year.
It forced Bates to shift things around, which meant running the ball to set up the pass.
Utilizing Mark Passero and his younger cousin Andrew Passero, the Knights controlled the ball, and when it was time to pass, East took away leading receiver Beauchamp, which opened the door for Zamiara to have a big night.
Andrew Passero capped a 65-yard drive just before halftime by cutting back and scoring from three yards out on very Barry Sanders-like run to put the Knights back on top 14-12 with 1:39 left in the half. Ten of the 13 plays – and 49 of the 16 yards – one that drive came on the ground.
“All the credit goes to the offensive line,” Andrew Passero said. “Their defensive line was huge and our guys did a very good job opening holes at the right time.”
After holding East (No. 23 NYSSWA Class A) to a three-and-out – aided by a sack of East quarterback Anthony Gilbert by Quinn Bergeron on second down – the Knights needed just three plays to extend the lead when Walsh found Zamiara over the middle and the big tight end rambled 42 yards for a touchdown with :45 seconds left to go up 21-12.
But East would not go quietly and rose to the occasion on the ensuing drive. A short kickoff resulted in East taking over at its 42 and Knight penalty and three runs – two by Brock for 31 yards and another by Gilbert for 16 yards – put the ball on the McQuaid five-yard line when Gilbert found Seven McGee in the corner of the end zone on the last play of the half to pull the Eagles to within 21-18.
The crazy scoring pace continued after halftime, as McQuaid needed just four plays to travel 63 yards before Passero crossed the goal line from seven yards out to put the Knights up 28-18. The big play coming on a 56-yard catch-and-run by Zamiara to set the Knights up at the seven.
But the Eagles would not go away quietly and on the first play of the ensuing drive, Brock hit the right side of the line, turned on the after-burners, and sprinted 89 yards to score and pull East back within one score at 28-24.
The game had suddenly turned into a track meet as both teams combined for five touchdowns in less than three minutes of game action.
But 28-24 was as close as the Eagles would get.
McQuaid answered Brock’s touchdown run with a seven-play 57 yard drive and ended with Walsh’s second pass to Zamiara from three yards out with 8:06 left extending the lead to 35-24.
“All of our plays our RPOs (run-pass-options) work really well and when they do someone is always open and tonight it just happened to be me,” said Zamiara, who came into the season with only one career touchdown reception, and finished the night with seven catches for 157 yards.
But the way the game was unfolding, an 11-point lead was not safe. Knight defensive back Mike Maloney did his part to keep East at bay, picking off Gilbert’s pass the next time East had the ball and returned it 37 yards to the 22-yard line. From there, Mark Passero carried the ball 5 consecutive times and blasted over from the three to extend the lead to 42-24.
“I thought Mark and Andrew did a very good job running the ball tonight,” Bates said. “Mark runs extremely hard and Andrew provided good touches.”
Mark Passero finished with 120 yards on 27 bruising carries, while Andrew Passero pitched in with 10 carries for 44 yards.
East closed the gap once again as McGee outran the Knight defenders after Mark Passero’s score from 47 yards out, to pull the Eagles close at 42-30, but thanks to Mark Passero’s 47-yard kickoff return, the Knights made short work of their next drive when Walsh and Zamiara connected for a third time — this time a 16-yard strike — sealing the game.
Mark Passero’s 47-yard return was part of his 121 kick return yards he logged on the evening.
All told, McQuaid scored 28 points in the third quarter, three more than East had allowed in the previous 18 quarters.
Mark Passero added his third touchdown of the night, this time from 5 yards early in the fourth to cap the scoring.
Brock finished as the game’s leading rusher with 161 yards on 16 totes. McGee finished with 59 yards rushing and 12 yards receiving and several tackles.
The win will surely give the Knights a home game in the first round, regardless of what happens the rest of the weekend with the new Sectional Power Seeding Points system. A win against East is worth 10 points, and McQuaid will finish no worse than third when the Class AA seedings come out on Sunday.
The Eagles opened the evening tied for second and Class A, but even with the loss, the points gained may outweigh teams at the top of Class A and still give East a home game next week.
| East | 0 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 30 | ||
| McQuaid | 7 | 14 | 28 | 7 | 56 | ||
| Scoring | |||||||
| McQuaid | Ben Beauchamp 5 pass from Hunter Walsh (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| East | Yasir Daniels 4 pass from Anthony Gilbert (run failed) | ||||||
| East | Freddie Brock 8 run (run failed) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Andrew Passero 4 run (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Connor Zamiara 42 pass from Hunter Walsh (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| East | Seven McGee 7 pass from Anthony Gilbert (pass failed) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Mark Passero 7 run (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| East | Freddie Brock 89 run (kick failed) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Connor Zamiara 3 pass from Hunter Walsh (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Mark Passero 3 run (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| East | Seven McGee 47 run (pass failed) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Connor Zamiara 16 pass from Hunter Walsh (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Mark Passero 5 run (Eric Schertler kick) | ||||||
| Rushing | |||||||
| East | Freddie Brock 16-161, Seven McGee 4-59, Jaquan Close 1-6, Deljon Johnson 2-2, Malik McCray 1-(-1), Anthony Gilbert 6-(-14) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Mark Passero 27-120, Andrew Passero 10-44, Mike Pavone 3-9, Hunter Walsh 2-7 | ||||||
| Passing | |||||||
| East | Anthony Gilbert 11-20-94-2-2 | ||||||
| McQuaid | Hunter Walsh 16-27-244-4-1 | ||||||
| Receiving | |||||||
| East | Mike Maxwell 5-48, Malik McCray 2-24, Seven McGee 2-12, Yasir Daniels 2-12, Jaquan Close 1-(-2) | ||||||
| McQuaid | Connor Zamiara 7-157, Ben Beauchamp 5-59, Andrew Passero 2-25, Mark Passero 13 | ||||||
Leave a Reply