By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Replacing a two-time sectional champion quarterback is an arduous task. When Joe Cairns graduated from McQuaid Jesuit, the Knights needed a new leader.
Senior John Mahar spent last season preparing for the opportunity. Mahar spent Friday night throwing for 300 yards and four touchdowns, completing 75 percent of his passes and driving McQuaid to a third straight win to start the season.
The Knights answered Victor’s lone touchdown, a CJ Palmiere goal-line run with 5:04 remaining until halftime, with 22 unanswered points. A boisterous Victor home atmosphere was overtaken by McQuaid fans in the second half as the visitors earned a 29-6 victory.
“Johnny’s done an outstanding job,” Knights head coach Bobby Bates said of Mahar’s performance. “He spent a lot of last year learning the offense and understanding the concepts and schemes. Johnny’s just done a really good job all year long of working at details, and that’s what’s been really great about him. He’s working on his release; he’s working on his reads. He’s doing a really nice job, and he’s doing a nice job of managing the game. I’m really impressed with him and what he’s doing for this program.”
Victor’s touchdown did not lead to a tie score, as the Blue Devils tried a two-point conversion but bobbled the snap. McQuaid led for the final 40:31 after Mahar and Joey Leuzzi connected for the first score of the game with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter.
“That’s all work in the offseason,” Leuzzi commented. “We were out every day, throwing, and getting our connection ready.”
Fewer than two minutes after Palmieri found the end zone, Parris Smiley caught Mahar’s pass and ran 63 yards to extend the lead to 13-6. Victor thought it gained momentum with a long ensuing kickoff return to the McQuaid 26-yard line, but Xaye Collier intercepted the first play from scrimmage in the end zone.
Collier added a red zone interception of Matthew Brady in the fourth quarter, capitalizing with a touchdown catch to effectively seal the win.
Mahar spread the ball between Smiley, Leuzzi and Collier, completing all but one pass to the wideout triumvirate. Each receiver led the team in a different category: Collier in receptions with seven, Smiley with 183 yards and Leuzzi with two touchdown catches.
The McQuaid students had some fun at the expense of Victor’s secondary. “You can’t guard him!” they chanted after Smiley caught two passes for first downs. “You can’t guard him!”
“Parris, first of all he’s a phenomenal teammate,” Bates said of Smiley, “and he works really, really hard at his job. He does a great job of going up and getting the ball. He’s good at adjusting his routes in coverage. I just can’t say enough great things, and the best thing is he’s a phenomenal young man. I’m proud and honored to coach him.”
The Knight defense allowed 14 points in each of its season-opening wins over Hilton and Monroe. Against the Blue Devils, who topped Hilton 26-0 last week, McQuaid surrendered just 110 yards of total offense- 82, 28 passing. Victor converted just two of its 11 third downs.
Kendal Burno recorded 16 tackles, while Smiley added 11 tackles and Max Schofield chipped in eight.
“We knew that they were a run-heavy team, and they’ve got a very, very solid group of o-linemen that have done a nice job,” Bates noted. “We really just focused on that all week long, how we were gonna scheme against that offense. And it’s tough, because they wall you off and then pin ya, and they wrap around; they do a great job of that. And they were running their isos and their counters really well at us. This week, we had to have a ‘bend but don’t break’ defense.
“That was our motto all week: bend but don’t break.”
McQuaid’s 3-0 start is its fourth in as many seasons.
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