The Saints fought hard in Saturday’s football game against Thomas More. Although they fell short to lose to Thomas More with a final score of 48-12, they scored two impressive touchdowns and carried strong momentum all throughout the game.
In the first quarter, Luke Zajac, for Thomas More, scored a touchdown off of a five-yard run to bring Thomas More ahead 7-0 early in the game. In the second quarter, Thomas More followed up with a 35-yard field goal kicked by Cole Mathais and a 1-yard run for a touchdown scored by Hjavier Pitts bringing the score to 17-0. The Saints responded with a 26-yard touchdown pass completion to Travis Marnell ’19 thrown by Aaron Ruthman ’21 who started the game as quarterback. Mike Cognetta for the Saints stopped Thomas More on the following drive with an interception deep in the Saints’ territory which gave the Saints chance to get within one score of Thomas More, bu Ruthman was picked off at the Saints six yard line with less than a minute left to play in the quarter.
The third quarter began with a score of 17-6. Saints’ first year, Jamie Battaglia ’22, scored a touchdown on a 9-yard run bringing the score up to 17-12. D’Marco Canty made an impressive 43-yard touchdown pass completion for Thomas More. The Saints were eventually worn down by Thomas More’s persistent running game. Thomas More closed the game with 31 unanswered points; however, Anthony Ferraro ’21 and Travante Wheeler 21’ both had a game high of seven receptions for the Saints. Ferraro completed the game with an impressive total of 39 receiving yards and Wheeler with 34 receiving yards.
Cognetta who plays running back for the Saints said, “after the game this past weekend I am personally feeling frustrated with our performance. It’s always hard to bounce back from a 1-4 record, but we believe we’re talented enough to make a run at the league championship.” He added, “one goal for our team moving on is to first win our next game vs Rochester. After that, to just compete with teams and not get blown out by the 3rd quarter. If we can’t beat Rochester this weekend, then we can’t beat anyone in the league.” The Saints move on to play at the University of Rochester this Saturday, Oct. Sixth. It should be a close match up on Saturday because the Saints stand with a record of 1-4 and Rochester is 1-3. Hopefully the Saints will bring their best defense to the field and be able to stop Rochester’s running game to come out with a win!