Sports

St. Mary's Struggles With Passing Defense in Home Opener Loss

Toledo (OH) St. John's Jesuit scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to beat Orchard Lake St. Mary's in the Eaglets' home opener.

The score: Toledo (OH) St. John's Jesuit 34, Orchard Lake St. Mary's 24

The star: St. John's junior quarterback Brogan Roback showed off his calmness and efficiency in the pocket en route to 15-of-20 passing for 278 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against the No. 2-ranked team in the state.

The turning point: Down by three and with the ball at St. John's own 49-yard line, Roback faked a handoff to senior running back Kent Kern and threw a pass to senior wide receiver Jordan King, who caught the ball in stride and scored to give the Titans their first lead of the game with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

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The quote: "We thought at halftime if we hadn’t made so many mistakes, we could have been up, 21-10. We addressed that at half time. We’ve got a pretty veteran team — 26 seniors — and we played pretty well the second half." - St. John's head coach Doug Pearson

What's next? St. Mary's will host Highland Park High School next Friday at 7 p.m.

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Bottom line: St. John's is likely far better than the team's 302nd national ranking would suggest, but St. Mary's must improve its passing game, including its offensive line, as well as have more discipline if the Eaglets are to compete through their always-tough schedule.

This was not the way that fans and players imagined the Orchard Lake St. Mary's varsity football team's home opening game to go. Leading 24-14 in the second half against St. John's Jesuit, the Eaglets allowed 20 unanswered points en route to a 34-24 upset loss.

The game started off well enough for St. Mary's, thanks to its defense and running attack. After forcing St. John's to punt on its first two possessions, senior quarterback Dan Clements faked a handoff to senior running back Spencer McInnis and threw a bomb to senior tight end Jalen Echols from the Titans' 44-yard line.

However, St. John's answered on the first play of the second quarter when junior Brogan Roback found senior wide receiver Jordan King in single coverage from the Eaglets' 41-yard line. Although sophomore wide receiver Jalen Watts-Jackson almost came away with the interception on the play, King was able to snag the pass at the 10-yard-line and walk into the end zone.

With time winding down in the first half and the Titans with possession, senior linebacker David Talley stuck Roback with a hard hit and forced a fumble, recovered by Austin Crutchfield. The Eaglets turned the turnover into points with a 20-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

"We thought at halftime if we hadn’t made so many mistakes, we could have been up 21-10. We addressed that at half time. We’ve got a pretty veteran team — 26 seniors — and we played pretty well the second half," St. John's head coach Doug Pearson said.

Eaglets fans might have thought that the second half would be more of the same after senior running back Keith Stonestreet took the first play from scrimmage 70 yards on the ground and Clements ran in the touchdown two plays later. However, Roback returned the favor with a 27-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing possession to senior wide receiver Dexter Haynes, which started to turn the tide for the Titans.

"(At halftime), we didn’t scream and yell, we know what we have to do. We just said, seniors, this is your team, this your season, and those guys got it done," Pearson said.

"My line gave me a lot of time (in the second half) and that made my job a lot easier," Roback said. "My receivers found a way to get open. It’s my job to give it to them."

McInnis scored on a 5-yard run up the middle with 6:06 left in the third quarter to bring the lead to 24-14, but it would be the last lead St. Mary's had in the game. Pearson was quick to give credit to both McInnis and Stonestreet, who finished with 124 and 136 yards rushing, respectively. "Those are great backs," Pearson said. "We're happy we were able to shut them down in the second half because that allowed us to force St. Mary's to do something they're not comfortable with, which is to pass."

On the second play of the next possession, Roback scrambled and hit Liam Allen with a 20-yard pass over the middle, before Allen bowled over senior Mason Porritt in the secondary and ran the ball 77 yards for the score.

A fumble by Stonestreet on the ensuing possession gave the ball back to the Titans and set the visitors up for a comeback. Down by three and with the ball at their own 49-yard-line, Roback faked a handoff to senior running back Kent Kern and threw a pass to King, who caught the ball in stride and scored to give the Titans their first lead of the game with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

"He's a heck of a player," Pearson said of Roback, who has scholarship offers from several Mid-American Conference universities. "He was good and (St. Mary's) were playing zone — not a lot of high coverage stuff — so, we knew we could leverage their corners. We scored three times on that post route."

________________________________________________________

Toledo (OH) St. John's Jesuit 34, Orchard Lake St. Mary's 24

SJJ - 0 7 20 7 - 34

OLSM - 7 3 14 0 - 24

OLSM: Echols 44 pass from Clements (Parry kick)

SJJ: King 41 pass from Roback (Smith kick)

OLSM: Parry 20 field goal

OLSM: Clements 8 run (Parry kick)

SJJ: Haynes 27 pass from Roback (Smith kick)

OLSM: McInnis 5 run (Parry kick)

SJJ: Allen 77 pass from Roback (Smith kick)

SJJ: King 51 pass from Roback (Smith blocked)

SJJ: Kern 75 run (Smith kick)

RUSHING

OLSM: Niemiec 11-75, S. McInnis 17-124, Stonestreet 10-136, Clements 5-30, P. McInnis 4-19, Linehan 1-0. Totals: 48-384. SJJ: Kern 17-145, Roback 8-7, Allen 1-5, Fuller 1-0. Totals: 27-157.

PASSING

OLSM: Clements 4-18-68-0, Linehan 2-7-28-0. SJJ: Roback 15-20-278-0.

RECEIVING

OLSM: Echols 1-44, Eroyan 1-11, McInnis 2-19, Fields 1-10, Stonestreet 1-12. Totals: 6-96. SJJ: Haynes 5-62, Robie 5-26, Wheeler 1-9, Brodbeck 1-12, Allen 1-77, King 2-92. Totals: 15-278.

PENALTIES

OLSM: 11-100. SJJ: 6-25.

RECORDS

OLSM: 1-1. SJJ: 2-0.


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