GAELS’ COLLINS REIGNS IN RAIN

“I was so down last week, I dropped a couple of passes that could have
turned the game around,” said Gaels’ quarterback Chris Collins, referring to last week’s loss at McDonogh. “I don’t feel like we should have lost that game, but then again, any
team can be beaten. I think we showed that tonight. Now we’re right back in it.”

The way Collins sees it, the game, played on a sunny afternoon, literally had slipped from the Gaels’ grasp.

“I was so down last week, I dropped a couple of passes that could have turned the game around,” said Collins, who plays a variety of positions for the Gaels, including receiver and running back.

“I don’t feel like we should have lost that game, but then again, any team can be beaten,” Collins said. “I think we showed that tonight.”

Collins spoke while standing in a downpour on Johns’ Hopkins University’s astro turf field after engineering Friday night’s 24-7 rout of previously unbeaten A Conference tri-champion Loyola (6-1, 1-1) in the inaugural DigitalSports Primtime Pigskin High School Football Series.

Collins staked the Gaels (3-4 overall, 2-1 league) to a 14-0 lead by throwing a 30-yard scoring pass to Kevin Fitzpatrick and rushing, untouched, for an 18-yard touchdown, helping to bring to an end a 10-game winning streak by a team which defeated Mount St. Joseph in the final seconds last season.

“We had some bad games, dropping balls, blowing leads like we did
against Thomas Johnson, which was also played in the rain,” said
Collins, a fleet-footed, 5-foot-11, 155-pounder.

“But tonight, I think
the rain favored us, with our ball-controll,” Collins said. “They like to run shot-gun,
don’t like to go under the center. But with this nice turf, we can cut
real good. I think it helped us out a lot.”

	Collins, one of many Gaels’ seniors who experienced their first victory over the Dons, also watched teammate Christian Lowe boot a 21-yard field goal and three extra point kicks. Collins later helped to set up Shelton Hall-Bennett’s 1-yard touchdown run with 7:02 to play by completing an 18-yard pass to Anthony Armstead. Armstead controlled Collins’ pass before landing at the 1-yard line after the ball had been tipped and nearly intercepted by the defender. Earlier, Collins had sustained the 11-play, 58-yard drive, when, on fourth-and-2 at Loyola’s 19, he completed a 5-yard pass to Dom Serio for first-and-10 at the Dons’ 14. “Our center, Jake Willertz, did an excellent job snapping the ball tonight, and we didn’t drop many passes tonight,” said Collins. “We just came to play, and and  we were focused.”
“Our center, Jake Willertz [No. 56,], did an excellent job snapping the ball tonight, and we didn’t drop many passes tonight,” Mount St. Joseph quarterback Chris Collins (No. 7) said of Willertz, whose recovery of a muffed punt return set up the Gaels’ first touchdown.  “We just came to play, and and  we were focused.”

The Dons, who averaged 35.5 points per game coming into the game, were held to their lowest point total of the season.

Loyola’s only score came with 4:53 left in the first half, when they were within, 14-7, after junior quarterback Leon Kinnard, ran for a 12-yard touchdown to finish off a  13-play, 80-yard drive. But the Gales responded with Lowe’s field goal with 9.7 seconds left in the half, going up, 17-7, at the intermission.

“I thought we came out ready to go and defeated them really in all phases of the game. Hats off to our kids, they just played a great game all around,” said third-year coach Chip Armstrong, crediting his linebacking corps of J.T. Ervin, Kirk Brooks, Tom Conley and Leroy Bradford. “There was a time where I thought we were getting gassed, and they were running ball effectively since they were pretty big up front.”

The Gaels, earlier, 40-3 winners over league-rival Georgetown Prep of
Bethesda, also have lost, 15-14, to Landon, a team both the Dons and
McDonogh had routed by large margins.
                                                                                                                                                       

The Gaels’ defense set the tone on the Dons’ second play from scrimmage, when Brian Petroski sacked Kinnard for a loss of seven yards. The defense also set up Fitzpatrick’s scoring reception at 5:47 of the first quarter, which came one play after Jake Willertz’ recovery of a muffed punt return at the Dons’ 30-yard line.

The Gaels, meanwhile, gained 214 yards of their 262 total offensive yards on the ground, mostly behind Renard Robinson (65yards), Collins (63), Rod White (55) and Nick Hutcherson. Collins credited the blocking of Conley, Serio, Willertz, Tyrell Fridie, Kirk Brooks, John Evans and Jay Drenner.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do for those guys, but my offensive line did an excellent job,” said Collins. “We just came to play, and we were focused on playing right. We look at McDonogh as being an upset, but we bounced back with another MIAA A Conference win. And now, we’re right back in the race. We can tie for first place in the league.”

Mount St. Joseph  24, Loyola    7

Loyola                   0          7        0        0           7
Mount St. Joseph    7         10       0        7         24

1st
MSJ-Fitzpatrick 30 pass from Collins (Lowe kick)

2nd
MSJ-Collins 18 run (Lowe kick)
LOY-Kinnard 12 run (Timmons kick)
MSJ-Lowe 21 FG

4th
MSJ-Hall-Bennett 1 run (Lowe kick)