Knights roll past Wolverines for city title

hThe St. Mary's Knights are the High School Football League senior division champions for the second straight season.

Making big plays from the opening kick off on, the Knights cruised to a 45-15 win over the White Pines Wolverines on Friday night at Rocky DiPietro Field.

Jeff Greco, who was named the College Prospects of America player of the game, ran for 228 yards on 22 carries and five touchdowns for the Knights.

The Knights now represent Sault Ste. Marie and will host the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) semi-final game next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field against the city champions from North Bay.

The semi-final winner will host the NOSSA championship game the following Saturday against the Sudbury city champion, who receives a semi-final bye.

On the opening kick off, Michael Martens returned the ball 86 yards to the Wolverines seven yard line to set up Greco's first touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

On their next series, Greco pounded his way to a nine yard major score and a 14-0 lead just 6:31 into the game.

White Pines began to drive on offense but the Knights' Jordan Verdone picked off a pass deep in St. Mary's territory and took away a score.

The Wolverines did hit the scoreboard before the end of the quarter as Tom Hicks caught a five yard touchdown pass from Cory Wensley to cut their deficit in half.

In the second quarter, White Pines recovered a fumble after lenghty punt return but threw their second of five interceptions on the ensuing drive to set up another St. Mary's score.

Michael Esson spun out of a group of Wolverines tacklers and then scurried down the sideline for a 42 yard run to set up Greco's 18 yard touchdown run.

After Verdone laid a punishing hit on Jon Widgett to stop a Wolverines fake punt attempt at midfield, Ricky Lamon, who also booted six converts, completed the Knights next offensive series with a 30 yard field goal with 1:49 left in the half.

Sean Bissonette then recovered a fumble on the kick off return to give the Knights another chance to score. Mark Devuono outwrestled a Wolverines defender for a 40 yard jump ball catch to set up Greco's fourth touchdown of the half on a three yard run and a 31-7 Knights lead at the break.

In the second half, the Wolverines came out with a strong drive offensively capped by Wensley's one yard sneak and Widgett's two point convert reception to cut the score to 31-15.

From there, the Knights held the Wolverines in check while adding two late touchdowns as Lamon caught a 23 yard pass from John Mullin and Greco ran in his fifth touchdown from 20 yards out.

The Knights hoisted the Hollingsworth Family Trophy, symbolc of the city championship, for the fourth time in past five seasons.

Esson finished with 92 yards rushing on 14 carries while Mullin completed six of 12 passes for 108 yards including two to DeVuono for 59 yards and three to Lamon for 39 yards.

Defensively for the Knights, Verdone led with 9.5 tackles while Jason Amadio added eight and Jeff Pellegrino 6.5. Esson recorded two interceptions while DeVuono and Adam Roy grabbed one each.

For the Wolverines, Tommy Sywstun led the rushing attack with 94 yards on 15 carries while Widgett added 86 yards on 14 carries. Wensley completed 10 of 24 passes for 112 yards. Jake Doan caught three passes for 46 yards, Tom Hicks four for 35 yards and Widgett two for 23 yards.

Matt Ritchie made 6.5 tackles defensively while Darcy Rumble added six, Tyler Kostiuk 5.5 and Doan 5.5. Gary Leith made 4.5 tackles and recovered a fumble while Kostiuk and Doan made interceptions.

City championship action continues on Saturday afternoon as the Sir James Dunn Eagles and St. Basil Saints meet for the junior division title at 1 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.