St. Patrick's Dominates Bay City All Saints

In a battle of the Catholic Schools, the Shamrocks hosted the Bay City All Saints football team on Saturday, November 2nd. The Shamrocks were just too much for the Cougars, winning by a score of 45-0. In a heavy snow and below 40-degree weather, the Shamrocks took the opening kickoff and busted one quick on a 69-yard rushing touchdown from Ned Smith. After locking down the Cougars, the Shamrocks put another one on the board when QB Connor Cross connected with Tyler Coyne for a 35-yard pass on the next possession. Again, on the next possession, St. Patrick's stopped Bay City and again the Shamrocks struck in the air with Connor Cross hitting Zach Spitzley for a 35-yard touchdown this time. Derec Fedewa put one more score in on a 10-yard touchdown rush to leave the score 25-0 after one quarter of play. The second score was a defensive quarter for the Shamrocks. Holding the Cougars to very little yardage, the Shamrocks relied on Ned Smith to score twice on rushes of 20 and 66 yards leaving the score 39-0 at halftime. In the opening possession, the Shamrocks stifled the Cougars and picked up where they left off, throwing one more pass to Zach Spitzley for a 35 yard touchdown pass from QB Connor Cross, making the score 45-0 Shamrocks. After that score, the Shamrocks put in the reserve players, who competed exceptionally well with larger and older opponents throughout the remainder of the game. Offensively the Shamrocks played a conservative game, and continued to play great defense leading to a final score of 45-0. Offensive leaders were Ned Smith who had 8 carries for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns. Payton Russman had 9 carries for 53 yards. Quarterback Connor Cross went 4 for 7 for 118 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Zach Spitzley had 2 touchdown catches for 69 yards. Defensively, the Shamrocks were led by Jacobe Hayes-Dunning with 8 tackles, Riley Kissane with 7 tackles and Alex Kissane with 5 tackles, 1 sack and 2 tackles for loss. After a hard fought, but respectful game, the Shamrocks and Cougars met at the center of the field to share prayers and to thank God for giving them the opportunity to compete and play a beautiful game. The Shamrocks will play Kinde North Huron next Saturday at 1:00 pm for the Regional Championship. The Kinde North Huron Warriors are a familiar opponent for the Shamrocks, with the Shamrocks having met and defeated them two years ago when the Shamrocks made it to the Championship game in 2017. The last meeting went the Shamrocks way, winning 33-14. This year, the Warriors are 7-3 and should be a good opponent for the Shamrocks to gain experience against.

Photos by Anne Bennett.