Philadelphia, Pa., In a rematch of the Philadelphia area AAAA Catholic league championship from last year, the LaSalle Explorers hung on for dear life and thwarted a last minute Roman Catholic drive to defeat the Cahillites, 23-21 at Northeast High’s Charles Martin stadium. It was the fourth regular season win for the Explorers over Roman in a very fast paced football game.
The Cahillites got on the board first on their first series with junior quarterback Michael Keir connecting on a 28 yard completion to Taishan Tucker and then an 11 yard fade pattern completion for a touchdown to junior star wideout William Fuller. LaSalle answered in the second quarter with a six play drive with senior running back Tim Wade accounting for runs of 40 and 15 yards and a scoring run from four yards out to tie the game.
LaSalle appeared to take control in the second half at 17-7 with a crisp ten play drive and over seven minutes elapsed with Wade’s running and senior quarterback Matt Magarity completing three passes in the drive. The final play was a one yard toss from Magarity to Colin Buckley. Roman answered back immediately, scoring in five plays with Keir running in from 15 yards out and a 17-14 game.
The mystique of the LaSalle Explorer football team over the past five years has been to play better football in the second half than its opponent and this game was no different. Two key interceptions by Keir in the fourth quarter did the damage. The first a 32 yard return by Mike Eife to the Roman 16 (resulting in a 10 yard TD pass from Magarity to Mike Piscopo) and the final one on the last play of the game with the Cahillites driving and the ball on the LaSalle 23 with five seconds left. The last pass intended for Fuller was batted down and picked off by Dad Poquie.
Wade finished the game with 147 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown. Roman’s Marcus Kelly had 112 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
Roman falls to 3-2 and will play Father Judge in another D12, AAAA, PCL, conference game. LaSalle moves to 4-1 and will play an out of conference game next week against Neumann-Goretti.
Scoring by Quarter
1st Quarter
Roman-William Fuller-11 yard pass from Michael Keir- PAT-Phillip Isaac-5:55
2nd Quarter
LaSalle- Tim Wade-4 yard run-PAT- Ryan Winslow-10:18
LaSalle- FG-Ryan Winslow-26 yards-1:17
3rd Quarter
LaSalle-Colin Buckley-one yard pass from Matt Magarity-PAT-Ryan Winslow-4:01
Roman-Michael Keir-16 yard run-PAT-Phillip Isaac-1:51
4th Quarter
LaSalle-Mike Piscopo-ten yard pass from Matt Magarity-PAT-no good-5:36
Roman-Marcus Kelly-two yard run-PAT-Phillip Isaac-1:54
