Knights beat Steelhawks in high school football

The second half of the high school football regular season opened on Thursday night and the St. Mary’s Knights remained in the hunt for first place.

A touchdown late in the third quarter by Nick Pagnotta lifted the Knights to a 17-3 win over the Superior Heights Steelhawks Thursday night at Superior Heights.

After a strong return on the opening kickoff by Taylor Holub into St. Mary’s territory, a fumble on the Steelhawks opening play from scrimmage turned the ball over to the Knights, though St. Mary’s couldn’t capitalize.

Superior Heights would get on the board with 4:26 to go in the second quarter as Gabe Spina kicked a 19-yard field goal to make it 3-0 Steelhawks.

In the final minute of the half, Kyle Finateri got St. Mary’s on the board with a 14-yard field goal with 41 seconds to go.

Late in the third quarter, Pagnotta took the ball 54 yards for a touchdown. A convert by Finateri would make the score 10-3 St. Mary’s with 1:58 to go in the quarter.

With just under seven minutes to go and Superior Heights facing a third and one, the Steelhawks converted for a first down. The next play would see the Steelhawks turn the ball over after a lateral was dropped and recovered by the Knights.

Pagnotta would then punch the ball in from four yards out with 3:37 to go in the fourth quarter. Finateri’s convert on the play would make it 17-3 St. Mary’s.

Pagnotta finished the day with 121 yards rushing on 20 carries. Parker St. Onge had 75 yards rushing on 12 carries.

Defensively for the Knights, Julian Gioia had eight tackles, one assist and a fumble recovery. Michael Girardi had five tackles.

Thursday’s win improves the Knights record to 3-1.

Cooper Laframboise ran the ball 14 times for 67 yards for Superior Heights. Robert Wright caught five passes for 40 yards.

Superior Heights quarterback Ethan Johnson completed six of 14 passes for 54 yards

Defensively for the Steelhawks, Joe Rosso had nine tackles and four assists. Elisha Ishimwe had five tackles.

The Steelhawks fall to 1-3.

The two teams last met in week one with the Knights beating the Steelhawks 29-14 on the opening day of the season.

In Thursday’s junior game Gavin Smith had a touchdown and a convert while Gabe Barkley put a punt through the endzone for a single point as Superior Heights beat St. Mary’s 8-1.

Gregory Polnick had the single point for St. Mary’s.

At the time of writing, Friday’s senior game between the Korah Colts (3-0) and White Pines (0-3) was set to go ahead as scheduled.

Last week, White Pines forfeited its game against St. Mary’s due to injuries and low player numbers.

Superior Heights returns to action on Oct. 4 against White Pines while St. Mary’s returns to action on Oct. 5 against Korah. The junior games on both days are scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. with the senior games following at 7:30 p.m. All games are played at Superior Heights.

The regular season wraps up with games on Oct. 11 when St. Mary’s faces White Pines and Oct. 12 when Superior Heights meets Korah.