Midway through the fourth quarter, Carroll's Kory Wilmot lofted an 18-yard fade to Paul Tassanari for his second touchdown reception of the game. The grab gave Carroll a 28-0 lead and sealed the win over Fisher.
For the second year in a row, the Vermin have come out on top and will keep possession of the Cricket Stick. "The stick" is awarded to the victors of this rivalry game every year and stays in the dorm until the two teams meet again.
Tassanari's first touchdown catch came early in the second half as he dove into the corner of the endzone to haul in Wilmot's pass. Wilmot had a career day, throwing for four touchdowns and over 100 yards. The key to the passing success was spreading the ball out well. In the first quarter six Vermin receivers had catches on 11 attempts.
The dominant pace of this game was established early on when Carroll opened up with a score after running only six plays. The drive culminated with a pass to Mike Johnson, who also kicked the extra point to make the score 7-0. Johnson did it all for the Vermin this week - on top of his kicking duties and 62 yards of receiving, the big defensive back also had two interceptions to stop key Fisher drives.
Running back Mark Bennett had the other Vermin score on a 40-yard catch and run. Fisher was able to block the extra point try, but it was of little consolation as the struggling Big Green offense now had a 13-point deficit to overcome. They seemed to have something going after the score as quarterback Pat Gotebeski was able to scramble and pass his way into Carroll territory. However time ran out, ending their drive and the half.
In the second half the Fisher running game could not get going, and once again the Vermin were able to shut them out. The Big Green had three turnovers on the day and never seemed to get comfortable. Gotebeski attributed the hard times to a lack of focus.
"We had too many mental mistakes to overcome this week," he said.
With this loss, Fisher drops to 1-1 with two tough games left on its schedule.
The Vermin, on the other hand, look poised to make their mark in the postseason with this second impressive win of the season. But the team wasn't too concerned with the rest of the season after Sunday's game. They were much more excited to be able to return to their dorm with the Cricket Stick once again.
Siegfried 10, Sorin 0
Siegfried's offense finally scored a touchdown Sunday afternoon in a 10-0 win against Sorin, as freshman Marcus Young punched it in from 11 yards out to lead the Ramblers.
The running back's third-quarter touchdown was the team's first of the season, as they were finally able to sustain a drive.
On the drive, there were two key third-down conversions, one coming on a quarterback sneak and the other on a third-down pass to receiver Marcus Boldin.
The drive culminated with the 11-yard run by Young to give Siegfried the 10-0 lead.
"Our offense has been close all year," Siegfried captain Kyle Rice said. "We finally had some rhythm today, but we still have a long way to go."
It looked like the Siegfried offense would again struggle to put points on the board early in he game.
In the first quarter, a bad snap on an attempted Sorin punt gave the Ramblers the ball on the Otter 10-yard line, but Siegfried was unable put it in the endzone.
A 27-yard Pablo Diaz field goal gave them an early 3-0 lead.
Siegfried's defense, which has been dominant all year, completely shut down Sorin's offense.
Sorin quarterback Stu Mora, working out of the shotgun all game, never had enough time to find his receivers as the Rambler defense applied constant pressure.
"They did a good job shutting down our receivers, and our offensive line didn't do a good job of picking up their blitzes," Sorin coach Matt Young said.
The Otter offense couldn't put together any sustained drives all game. The only time they were inside Siegfried's 30-yard line was because the Otter defense forced a turnover. Sunday's result leaves Siegfried (2-1) in very good shape to make the playoffs, as a win will guarantee a playoff berth and a loss still may give the Ramblers a spot in the postseason.
Sorin, however, needs to win next week against Fisher in order to have a chance to make the playoffs.
"Next week is basically the first week of the playoffs for us," said Young.
Zahm 29, St. Edward's 0
Theo Ossei-Anto's seven carries for 175 yards lead a Zahm offense that put up 240 yards of total offense, en route to a 29-0 victory over St. Edward's.
The Bats' defense was just as impressive in holding the Stedsmen's attack to 31 yards, while putting constant pressure on quarterback John Brewis.
The unit tallied five sacks on the day, and never allowed St. Ed's inside the red zone.
But despite the stellar defensive effort, the story of the game was the Zahm ground game, led by Ossei-Anto.
The freshman tailback dismantled the Stedsmen defense, as he took four carries for over 25 yards.
In Zahm's third touchdown drive, one that spanned 99 yards, Ossei-Anto gained 91 yards - on just two carries.
First, the speedy back took an option pitch from quarterback Sean Wieland and sprinted right for 37 yards. On the next play, he ran left through a gaping hole for 54 yards to the St. Ed's eight.
Two plays later, Jake Richardville pounded it in from five yards out to give Zahm a 22-0 lead.
Ddespite the career day, Ossei-Anto, who also rushed for a 41-yard touchdown in the second quarter, deferred the credit from himself.
"I just trusted in my line today," the freshman acknowledged. They were really opening up the holes for me. I really didn't do anything special."
Tell that to the Stedsmen defense, who could seemingly never get off the field. In the first half alone, Zahm outgained St. Ed's 115-15, with only one pass attempted. Quarterback Sean Wieland, who had provided most of the scoring through the air this season, only needed to attempt three passes on the day.
He finished 1-of-3 for 20 yards, but also ran for Zahm's final score from 5 yards out. Wieland didn't need to throw, because the rushing game was too busy piling up the yardage.
In all, Zahm gained 220 yards on the ground, rushed for four scores and physically dominated the game.
Team captain Pat Gourley had nothing but praise for his offense.
"They stepped up again today," Gourley said. "I think both offensively and defensively, we straight-up out-powered them. Our offensive line was playing together today. We're really building team chemistry."
Once again, Gourley pointed to his team's superior conditioning as a reason for their success. Zahm dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The defense was just as impressive as the run game, forcing seven plays of negative yardage, thoroughly shutting down the Stedsmen's offense. Dan Ward, the St. Ed's captain, admitted that he was surprised that the game turned out so lopsided.
"This was a learning experience for our team. We really thought that we were mentally prepared for this game, but we had a hard time getting enough guys for practice, because many were busy with exams and projects."
Ward noted that despite the bye week, his team only managed to have one practice.
With regard to Zahm's destruction of his team's run defense, Ward said, "There's no reason for them to have that much success. We definitely need to concentrate on this in practice."
Perhaps the only bright spot for the Stedsmen came on special teams when punter Oliver Gamez blasted a 59-yard punt that pinned Zahm at its own one.
Any advantage gained by that play was quickly nullified as the Bats went the full 99 yards in four plays for the score.
Running back Pat Sweeney was the offensive star for St. Ed's rushing for 32 yards on four carries.
Zahm (3-0) has a bye before taking on Knott in their season finale, while St. Ed's (0-2) will prepare for a game against Siegfried next week.
