The sun wasn't shining on the Cardinals Saturday in their 14-6 loss to Potomac School.
Bishop Ireton’s high flying Cardinals were stopped for the second week in a row by the Panthers, this time the Potomac School Panthers, 14-6, on a miserable day in more ways than one.
The game, played in challenging conditions with rain, sleet, and snow mixed with a strong northwesterly wind, played havoc with the passing game for both teams. The squads were nursing injuries, the Panthers dressed but 29 players, and key players were sidelined during the game, it became a “trench war” with both squads generally finding little running room for their ground attack. The difference was a consistently strong rush defense by Potomac School.
Not surprisingly the game opened with both teams struggling to establish any offensive consistency, but Ireton, with the wind at its back seemed to tilt the field position battle in its favor early. That gave Ireton excellent field positon in the first half, when a punt into the wind carried only to the Potomac 20. Later, after the Panther defense once again stonewalled the Cardinals, a turnover gave Ireton great field position on the Potomac 15 year line, but Ireton could do nothing with the advantage because of the Panther run defense.
After a scoreless first period, the Panthers did take advantage of the wind in the second quarter and as their defense put them in good field position, Brandon Arvanaghi punching Potomac into the end zone with only :33 seconds left in the first half. Bishop Ireton tried to generate some life with the time remaining, but on the final play of the first half PJ Zingler overthrew Merid Merid and the Panther’s Cullen Hamilton intercepted the ball and galloped nearly 55 yards untouched for their second touchdown in little more than a minute, giving the hosts a 14-0 lead at the half.
Little changed in the second half as the wind and weather made it a difficult day for both offenses. It was a punt from deep in Potomac territory in the third quarter that gave Ireton its only score of the day. When the wind caught a Ryan Eckert punt from inside their own 20, the aerial began to blow back, bounced on the turf and rolled out of bounds for the surprised teams at the Potomac 1-yard line. The Cardinals needed only one play, but with second effort, Andrew Bladen’s quarterback sneak pulled the Cardinals back to within a score. The PAT snap from center appeared to go through the hands of holder PJ Zingler and the surprised Nick Galdos could do nothing with the kick.
The second straight loss left Ireton at 7-2 on the season, while the Panthers improved to 6-2 0n the season with a date next week to play Flint Hill for the conference championship. Ireton limps into Leonardtown with a Friday night game with the Knights left on the docket before any playoff opportunities the following weekend.
Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 4 Total
Bishop Ireton 0 0 6 0 6
Potomac School 0 14 0 0 14
Potomac – Arvanaghi 7 yard run (Eckert kick)
Potomac – Hamilton 55 yard pass interception return (Eckert kick)
Bishop Ireton – Bladen 1 yard run (run failed)
News & Notes:
– Potomac School’s win over the Cardinals was the first in the series, now standing at 5-1 in favor of Ireton
– 6 was the fewest amount of points scored by the Cardinals since they were shutout by Woodberry Forest 9/18/2010.
– Next Friday’s opponent, St Mary’s Ryken, fell 49-6 at PVI
– VISAA’s #3 ranked team, St Christophers fell to Woodberry Forest and Benedictine also lost to Fork Union. LCA & Flint Hill were winners
– SMR contest will be under the lights at 7pm in Leonardtown on Friday.
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