by LAKEWOOD, OH – It was a big day for the St. Ed’s Eagles as they hosted the visiting Delbarton Green Wave from New Jersey. They used strong line play early to defeat the team from the Garden State, 48-28 in convincing fashion. Their starting defense starting defense gave up 7 points. Their starting defense gave up 104 total yards and held Delbarton to 0-5 on 3rd down and 0-1 on 4th down with a defensive touchdown too.
Senior standout Zach Hackleman had a monster day with 7 catches for 114 yards and 3 touchdowns along with a massive 99 yard kickoff return for a score. Star tailback Brandon White rushed for 56 yards on just 9 carries with a score. Quarterback Johnny Evanchick rushed for 55 yards on 9 carries and threw for 118 yards on 7 of 8 with 3 touchdowns. Joe Moore also had 2 catches for 48 yards and a score.
For the Greenwave, they were led by tailback Matthew Tafuri with 96 yards on 8 carries with a score. Quarterback Gavin Giraldi struggled at times but did finish with 191 yards on 7 of 10 passing with 2 touchdown passes.
A 25-yard pitch and catch to Hackleman got the Eagles opening drive moving nicely. A 14 yarder by Brandon White got them moving again with a first and ten from the 34 of the Greenwave. Shortly after, a pass interference call moved the Eagle possession to the 12 of the Greenwave. They cashed in with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Joe Moore to hand the Eagles the 7-0 lead with 8:22 to play in the first quarter. It was a beautiful 9 play 86-yard drive.
After forcing a three and out, the Eagles nailed another big play with a 51-yard touchdown toss to Hackleman. Just like that, the Eagles led 13-0 with 5:48 to play in the first quarter.
The Greenwave were on their way to another a three and out when Gavin Dubinsky picked up a fumble and took it to the house to score. Gilardi was sacked and fumbled when it was scooped and scored. The extra point made it 20-0 with 5 minutes still to go in the first quarter.
The quick strike scoring just kept coming as the Greenwave had a one play touchdown drive when Tafuri took it 85 yards through the middle of the Eagle line to score. This inched them closer at 20-7 with 4:45 left to play, still in the opening quarter.
The wild scoring wasn’t done yet as Hackleman took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to score right back for the Eagles. It was an insane quarter that now saw the score extend to 27-7 Eagles with 4:32 still left to play. The quarter ended by that same score when St. Ed’s was driving for more.
The second quarter started strong with another Eagle score. This one was set up with a Langston Lucas to Mikovsky launch inside the 10 of the Greemen. A few plays later it was Brandon White taking it in from the 6-yard line, to increase the Eagle lead to 34-7 with 10:42 to play.
The Eagles tacked on one more score before halftime with a Zach Hackleman 6 yard touchdown catch. The Eagles went 48 yards on 7 plays for 3:01 to reach the endzone one more time. This made it 41-7 as we went to halftime.
The Greenwave had the ball to start the second half and promptly went 49 yards in 9 plays to score on a Koby Irby- Mason 2 yard touchdown run. It was set up from a 50 yard kickoff return from Tafuri.
The Greenwave continued the comeback attempt late into the third as they connected on a massive 93 yard touchdown launch from Gilardi to Raaphorst to cut into the lead 41-21 with 6 seconds to go in the third quarter.
After a Langston to Hackleman touchdown extended the lead back to 48-21 for St. Ed’s, the Eagles hung on from there for the 48-28 win.
Players of the game
St. Ed’s WR Zach Hackleman with 7 catches for 114 yards and 3 touchdowns along with a massive 99 yard kickoff return for a score.
Delbarton Prep QB Gavin Giraldi with 191 yards passing and 2 touchdowns.
