St. Francis capitalizes on Aurora Christian's mistakes
Football games often come down to a couple of big plays and which team can capitalize on its opportunities. In a SCC crossover game between St. Francis and Aurora Christian Friday, the Spartans seemed to be on the right side of all the big moments.
They were able to take advantage of three turnovers by the Eagles and made some of their own luck with a big special teams play, a fake punt, that resulted in a score as they went on to a 35-20 victory.
The Eagles (5-3, 4-0) sophomore quarterback Grayson Roberts came out firing and moved Aurora Christian right to the goal line where John Magee punched it in for the early lead.
After forcing St. Francis (6-2, 2-2) to punt the Eagles seemed to be in control but then came the first big turning point. On third-and-long, Roberts was in shotgun formation and the snap sailed over his head. Roberts was unable to control the loose ball and Ryan Spatz jumped on it in the end zone for a Spartan touchdown.
"We had our backs against the wall early down 6-0 and the snap over their head was a big break," said St. Francis head coach Greg Purnell.
St. Francis then seemed to find its rhythm offensively as quarterback Collin O'Donnell bounced outside for runs of 17, 18 and finally a touchdown run of 13 yards that pushed the Spartan lead to 14-6.
"We knew because of what we've done all year that they would be stuffing us inside," said Purnell. "They are a little smaller than we are so they were just blowing all the gaps inside and we knew we had to get out quarterback outside by running some keeps with him."
"I think that was the key to the game, their quarterback making some big runs in key situations," said Aurora Christian head coach Don Beebe.
Then came another big play for the Spartans, this time from their defense as defensive back Harold Beron picked off a Roberts pass and two plays later Bob Miller cashed in with an 11-yard TD run that opened up the lead to 21-6 at the half.
In the second half, St. Francis made the costly mistake, fumbling on its first possession. Roberts didn't waste any time capitalizing with a 14-yard TD throw to Sheldon Magee and, after the successful 2-point conversion, the lead was down to 21-14.
After the Eagles stopped St. Francis short of a first down on their next possession, it appeared they would get the ball back with a chance to tie the game but Mark Shmitt took the direct snap in punt formation and took it 26 yards for a first down to the AC 31-yard line. The Spartans made the gamble pay off when O'Donnell rolled out and hit Tony Varygas for a 14-yard TD to push the lead back to two scores near the end of the third quarter.
"We really wanted to get the momentum back and we knew with that play we had a chance to get to back from them," said Schmitt. "I saw that they all crashed in and I got outside with only their punt returner back there, it worked great."
The Spartans put together a time consuming 12-play drive that culminated in a 1-yard scoring run from Miller that put the game out of reach at 35-14.
John Magee added a 1-yard run of his own late in the game for the Eagles.