THUNDER BAY – A dominant ground game proved to be the perfect recipe for a high school junior football championship.
Led by a 131-yard effort from burly back Jayce Zaroski, the St. Ignatius Falcons scored four rushing touchdowns, adding a pick-six late in Saturday’s final and went on to defeat the St. Patrick Saints 34-0 to capture a second straight title.
Zaroski, who opened the scoring with a one-yard rumble up the middle early in the first, said it’s great to hoist the trophy in his first year of high school football.
“I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a good game, with really good players. Even the second-stringers, getting them in there to play, it was good,” said Zaroski, who had six carries of 10 or more yards on the afternoon.
Running the ball was clearly the game plan cooked up by the St. Ignatius coaching staff. Quarterback Justin Coulombe, who had a two-yard touchdown run of his own, threw the ball just four times, failing to connect on any of them.
It didn’t much matter.
The Falcons finished with 205 yards combined rushing, while the Saints only managed 81 yards of total offence, 49 through the air and 32 on the ground.
“We really prepared for their passing attack all week and most of the time we were in position to make plays. Our running game, we knew that was our strength. We’ve been able to be multi-dimensional all year with the passing game, but it didn’t work out today. But the running game was enough for us to come out with the win,” said St. Ignatius coach Mike Savioli.
Carson Height and Kai Mosley had six-yard touchdown runs, the Falcons other major coming on a late pick-six by Matteo Marino, who intercepted St. Patrick quarterback Boston Bortolin at the Saints 15 and took it to the end zone.
Bortolin, a key asset as the Saints made the charge to Saturday’s final, struggled in the championship match, connecting on just 7-of-22 pass attempts and was picked off three times, including a pair by Zack Marino that halted promising St. Patrick drives.
“They had gotten 30 yards of offence before my first pick and then we just shut it down,” Marino said. “I couldn’t have done it without my defence.”
The second-year defensive back said going back-to-back feels amazing.
“It feels awesome. But again, I couldn’t have done it without the team. We’ve been working at this all year. This is what we worked for and it feels amazing.”
