| AWAY | HOME | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BEAR GRASS CHARTER | VS | JOHN PAUL II CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL | |
| 13 | 35 | ||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Grass Charter | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Paul II Catholic High School | 0 | 22 | 6 | 7 |
The John Paul II High School football team might’ve struggled early on homecoming night, but the Saints eventually found their stride and pulled away to beat Bear Grass 35-13 on Friday evening.
JPII improved to 8-0 overall, a mark that includes five victories in 11-man games. Bear Grass, which earlier this season lost a couple of games to JPII-rivals Parrott and Faith Christian by a combined seven points, dropped to 4-5 overall.
A little more than nine minutes into the game, the offense still hadn’t taken a snap. During that same time, the defense was finding no success stopping a punishing ground game by the Bears and as a result, the Saints found themselves trailing by 13 points.
“Lack of focus is always a concern on homecoming,” JPII coach Sean Murphy said. “But give credit to Bear Grass for coming out focused and taking advantage of some mistakes on our end.”
When JPII finally did take the field on offense for the first time, it took a little while for the Saints to get in gear as Rion Roseborough, who entered the contest averaging 166.4 yards rushing per game (7.9 per carry), was stopped for no gain on first down and they soon found themselves facing a fourth-and-2 at the Bear Grass 48. From there, though, Roseborough ran for seven yards to the 41 to spark the offense. He later ended the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, and JPII was back in business.
The defense then got a quick stop on downs, and JPII took over near midfield. After a 15-yard run by Roseborough, quarterback Brody Mitchell went to the air and found a wide-open Quinn McCaffrey behind the secondary for a 33-yard touchdown. Will Wright’s second PAT put the Saints up 14-13 with 8:25 left until halftime.
JPII forced a punt and got the ball back at its own 45. Roseborough, who finished the game with 20 carries for 186 yards and three touchdowns, ran it to the Bear Grass 27, Mitchell then took it to the 18 on a keeper, and Keiveon Moore followed with an 18-yard touchdown run with 6:00 left in the half. Roseborough’s conversion run made it 22-13, which also was the score at halftime.
Bear Grass opened the second half with an attempted onside kick, but it failed to go the required 10 yards, so JPII took possession at the Bears 44. Roseborough gained 11 yards on the first play, then scored from 33 yards just 32 seconds into the third quarter. The conversion run failed, leaving it at 28-13.
Two of JPII’s next three drives were completely bogged down by penalties — the Saints accumulated more than 100 yards in penalties on the night — with the third being capped with an 8-yard touchdown run by Roseborough with 10:14 remaining in the game to close the scoring.
“The penalties were a killer,” Murphy said. “They crushed some momentum we had, especially on offense. I believe two TDs were called back as a result. This will be an area of emphasis this week on both sides of the ball.”
Indeed, two touchdowns were negated because of yellow flags. Quinn McCaffrey, who also had an interception on defense, returned a punt 51 yards for an apparent touchdown, but JPII was whistled for an infraction. Moore also had a 12-yard touchdown run called back because of holding on a drive that ended with an interception in the end zone.
JPII found itself trailing 13-0 early. Brayden Taylor of Bear Grass returned the opening kickoff 43 yards to midfield, and the Bears started running the ball seemingly at will. Five plays later, Taylor scored on a 5-yard pass from Vance Keel. The conversion try failed.
Bear Grass then kicked onsides and recovered. A drive that was aided by a facemask penalty by JPII ended with an 11-yard touchdown run by Taylor. Adam O’Neal’s PAT left the Bears leading by 13 with 2:51 left in the first quarter.
But that was the last time Bear Grass scored. The JPII defense responded to the challenge, led by strong play from Moore, McCaffrey, Tucker Holmes, Nick Garza and Max Winkler, among others.
The end result is that the Saints are still unbeaten — including 3-0 in the Big 8 — heading into a pair of crucial conference contests to close the regular season. They will play at defending state champion Cary Christian next Thursday before Parrott visits for Senior Night on Oct. 28.
“Being 8-0 is special, especially for a young program,” Murphy said. “I’m very pleased with where we are as a team.”
Bear Grass 13 0 0 0 — 13
John Paul II 0 22 6 7 — 35
BG—Brayden Taylor 5 pass from Vance Keel (kick failed)
BG—Taylor 11 run (O’Neal kick)
JP—Rion Roseborough 9 run (Will Wright kick)
JP—Quinn McCaffrey 33 pass from Brody Mitchell (Wright kick)
JP—Keiveon Moore 18 run (Roseborough run)
JP—Roseborough 33 run (run failed)
JP—Roseborough 8 run (Wright kick)
