Knights beat Steelhawks to open season

After falling behind early, the St. Mary’s Knights rebounded to open the senior high school football season on a solid note on Thursday night.

The Knights used three touchdowns from Nick Pagnotta in a 29-14 win over the Superior Heights Steelhawks at Superior Heights.

“We had some first quarter jitters and made a big mistake on special teams and bouncing back from that was the key,” said Knights Coach Marty Smith. “After that we sucked it up and our kids showed a lot of poise. They came back and played really well after that on both sides of the ball.”

Fred Casselman handled the head coaching duties for the Steelhawks in place of Seth Cond, who was ill.

“We have guys going into new roles and we’re building,” Casselman said. “There’s no time for panic. It’s a long season.

“We played pretty well,” Casselman said. “We could have been better offensively. We sputtered there where we couldn’t get some momentum going and we didn’t take momentum.”

With 1:22 to go in the opening quarter, Superior Heights opened the scoring on a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Ethan Johnson.

In the late stages of the second quarter, Pagnotta ran the ball in from seven yards out to get the Knights on the board and make it 7-6 after a missed convert

Late in the opening half and deep in their own territory, Superior Heights would concede a safety, giving the Knights an 8-7 lead.

With 15 seconds to go in the half, Pagnotta would run the ball in from 12 yards out. The Knights would take a 15-7 lead into the half.

Midway through the third quarter, Superior Heights punter Gabe Spina’s punt would give the Steelhawks a single point to make it 15-8 as the kick would be touched by a St. Mary’s player who would have to knock the ball out the back of the Knights endzone while under pressure.

On their next possession, the Knights would make it 22-8 as Pagnotta ran the ball in from 18 yards out.

In the final minute of the third quarter, Travis Johnson would catch a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brennan Mitchell to give St. Mary’s 29-8 lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, Ethan Johnson hit Elijah Yandeau for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make the score 29-14.

Pagnotta finished the day with 155 yards rushing on 20 carries.

“He was outstanding for his first game up from junior,” Smith said.

Parker St. Onge had 64 yards rushing on 13 carries for St. Mary’s.

“We had a nice inside and outside running game with Pagnotta and Parker,” Smith said. “They complimented each other tremendously with the running game.”

Defensively for the Knights, Julian Gioia, Evan Sicoli, and Carter Bonin had four tackles each.

Cooper Laframboise had 52 yards rushing for Superior Heights on 11 carries while Robert Wright had 50 yards receiving on three catches.

Joe Rosso had 15 tackles for Superior Heights.

St. Mary’s returns to action on Sept. 13 against Korah in a 7:30 p.m. start while Superior Heights faces White Pines the following night, also in a 7:30 p.m. start. Both games are at Superior Heights.