St. Francis advances with 42-20 win
Whenever key players play on both sides of the football, you have to be concerned about fatigue.
A number of St. Francis Spartans lined up on both offense and defense for pretty much every snap of Saturday's Class 5A second-round matchup with Nazareth Academy. But the results could not have been any better for St. Francis' star running backs, Stan Bobowski and Mark Kachmer, as well as several other two-way players.
With Bobowski and Kachmer combining for 391 yards rushing and 5 TDs, St. Francis equaled a school record with its 10th win of the season, a 42-20 triumph that was jump-started by a 21-0 first quarter.
Bobowski and Kachmer not only ran all over the Roadrunners defense, but each had an interception and several other big plays on defense.
"We have a lot of guys going both ways, but we condition for that," said Kachmer, who rushed for 171 of his 175 yards while the Spartans built a 28-0 lead at the half. "The coaches prepare us for this, and this week was our best week of practice."
Bobowski led an early charge as No. 4 St. Francis (10-1) stunned the fifth-seeded (8-3) visitors. After Kachmer opened the scoring with a 42-yard TD run, Bobowski turned a third-and-1 run into an 83-yard score on the Spartans' second possession. The senior running back/linebacker then came away with the first of 6 interceptions in the game and his 59-yard return down to the 2-yard line set up a short TD by Kachmer that gave the hosts a quick 21-0 lead.
"We've been playing both ways for a few years, so we know what we have to do," said Bobowski, who swatted down a pair of passes at the line and also broke off a 65-yard TD run in the second half to end any hopes of a Roadrunners comeback. "The coaches work us hard and we knew we had to play hard for 48 minutes because they're a good second-half team."
Nazareth did recover a pair of onside kicks in the second half, and quarterback Adam Marske finished with 226 yards through the air and a pair of scores. But it was done in by 7 turnovers and the inability to contain the St. Francis running game.
"That was an old-fashioned tail kicking," Nazareth coach Tim Racki said. "They just executed better on both sides of the ball. They're real tough kids, but we knew that coming in."
St. Francis coach Greg Purnell was thrilled with the play he got up front on both sides of the ball. The Roadrunners couldn't slow the run even with 11 players in the box, and on offense the Spartans defense applied plenty of pressure on Marske.
"It was a great team effort," said Purnell, whose team could get a chance to avenge its only loss this season if it takes on Montini in the state quarterfinals. "We really had great pressure on him (Marske). And that first quarter was amazing. Wow. But if you're going to play 11 guys in the box, you'd better be able to control the line scrimmage."