The John Paul II Catholic High School football team turned in a very workmanlike performance — and an unusually balanced one, at least when it came to scoring — as it jumped out to a big lead and never looked back in a 35-7 victory over visiting Halifax Academy on Friday evening in an NCISAA 8-man state quarterfinal.
The Saints are well-known for their ground game, which was as effective as usual, led again by Rion Roseborough with 16 carries for 149 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns. But receiver Quinn McCaffrey matched Roseborough with a pair of scores on passes of 32 and 12 yards from quarterback Brody Mitchell, who also threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Roseborough.
Yes, that’s right: JPII actually had more touchdowns through the air than it did on the ground.
“Three passing touchdowns is a record for JPII,” Saints coach Sean Murphy said. “We proved we can win throwing the football.”
The second-seeded Saints improved to 10-1 overall heading into a state semifinal next Friday, Nov. 11, at home against third-seeded Rocky Mount Academy. They beat RMA on the road 48-24 on Sept. 16.
The other semifinal will feature Cary Christian at Parrott. Fifth-seeded Cary Christian edged fourth-seeded Wayne Christian 50-48 on Thursday to improve to 5-3, and Parrott defeated eighth-seeded Lawrence Academy 54-36 on Friday to improve to 9-1.
Seventh-seeded Halifax, which had eliminated JPII with a 36-20 decision in a state semifinal during the Saints’ inaugural season three years ago, finished 5-5.
JPII scored every time it had the ball, including all three times in the first half. It stopped the Vikings twice on downs, and McCaffrey — who missed last week’s game — ended another Halifax possession with his ninth interception of the season during the same time period.
An 8-yard touchdown run by Roseborough and McCaffrey’s 32-yard touchdown catch staked JPII to a 14-0 lead with 8:48 left in the first half. McCaffrey’s interception then gave the Saints the ball at their own 33 and led eventually to Roseborough’s 31-yard touchdown catch with 27.1 seconds left in the first half, making the score 21-0.
“The defense stepped up and played the way I expected,” Murphy said. “Having Quinn back was big. He gives our offense a passing threat and puts stress on the defense.”
JPII received the second-half kickoff and wasted little time scoring. Roseborough’s 31-yard run made it 28-0 with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
Halifax then embarked on its only scoring drive of the game. The Vikings took possession at their own 17 after another excellent kickoff by Will Wright and slowly — very slowly — made their way to the end zone. A drive that took 24 plays and consumed 13:08 off the game clock culminated in a 2-yard touchdown run by Braxton Hammack with 8:07 remaining.
The Saints answered with their final touchdown, McCaffrey’s 12-yard score, with 3:37 to go.
Halifax was driving again and had a second-and-goal at the 1 when the clock ran out.
JPII’s defense got standout play from McCaffrey, Keiveon Moore, Nick Garza, Max Winkler, Tucker Holmes and Xae Lang, among others. A Halifax offense which had scored 206 points in its previous four games (51.5 points per game average) and earlier this season had put up 41 in a loss to Parrott, was very much held in check.
HALIFAX ACADEMY 0 0 0 7 — 7
JOHN PAUL II 7 14 7 7 — 35
JP—Rion Roseborough 8 run (Will Wright kick)
JP—Quinn McCaffrey 32 pass from Brody Mitchell (Wright kick)
JP—Roseborough 31 pass from Mitchell (Wright kick)
JP—Roseborough 31 run (Wright kick)
HA—Braxton Hammack 2 run (Oliver Anderson kick)
JP—McCaffrey 12 pass from Mitchell (Wright kick)
