Complete Box Score and Play by Play
One play. It’s hard to boil down a 60-minute football game to one play, but it’d be hard to blame St. Pius X if they did that after Friday night’s Class 2 state championship game against Lamar.
In a game between two explosive offenses, it was the defenses that reigned supreme, and the Warrior defense was one slip up from a potential shutout and a state championship.
But that one slip up was all the Tigers would need, edging out the Warriors 6-3 for their first state title since 2017, which was their last of seven in a row.
“I’m happy to see the guys play as tough as they did,” St. Pius X head coach Anthony Simone said. “I’m super proud we were able to hold a team that averages 40-plus points a game to one big play, really.”
That big play happened late in the third quarter. The Warriors had just taken a 3-0 lead on a Joseph Wilson 40-yard field goal. With both offenses struggling to get much of anything going, the Tigers dialed up a trick play.
Quarterback Case Tucker took the snap and pitched to backup quarterback Joel Beshore who fired a pass right on the money to Mason Gastel. The Warrior defensive back covering Gastel had fallen down on the play allowing him to run into the end zone untouched for a 74-yard touchdown and the lead.
“Coach dialed up a great play,” Tucker said.
“Don’t let him fool you,” Lamar head coach Jared Beshore said, interrupting his quarterback. “He (Tucker) came over and brought up that play. We practice it every week. I was thinking about it, but that certain play wasn’t on my mind. Case reminded me about it.”
The final quarter was a frenzy, as the Warriors had chances to tie or take the lead.
Early in the fourth quarter Lamar had a snap sail over its punters head and St. Pius X recovered, taking over on the Tiger 14-yard line. But like they had done all game, the offense stalled with a short run for a yard and two incompletions as quarterback Jack Mosh had to throw the ball away twice. Wilson’s 30-yard field goal attempt went wide left to give the ball back to the Tigers.
The Warrior defense forced another punt, but John Caime muffed the punt return and Lamar recovered. But the Tigers would give the ball right back to the Warriors on the very next play on a fumble by Logan Crockett.
That gave St. Pius X one last chance with about 4 minutes left. Mosh had a miracle completion to David Deters on third-and-18 that went for 17 yards, setting up a fourth-and-one, which Shane Dorian converted. But two plays later, Mosh was picked off by Austin Wilkerson with a little more than a minute left.
The Tigers were able to run out the clock from there to clinch the title.
While the St. Pius X defense was dominant, the Tiger defense was just as good, if not better. The Warrior offense had trouble moving the ball all game long, finishing with just 91 yards of total offense.
Lamar’s size up front forced the Warriors to abandon their run game early.
“That was a huge factor,” Simone said. “We’re a team that runs about 60 percent of the time. They completely took us out of our game plan. They’re linebackers played really well, and their D-line was great. We weren’t able to run it, so we tried to get the ball to our threats.”
That wasn’t easy, either. Mosh was consistently under pressure and forced to run out of the pocket. He finished 10-of-31 for 95 yards.
“That’s what we strive for on the D-line,” Lamar’s Rylan Wooldridge said. “We wanted to make him panic and rush his throws, and we were able to do that tonight.”
Added Simone: “Jack has been really good all season long being able to scramble and get away. He will spin away and make a play. Tonight, he wasn’t able to do that. That’s a credit to them.”
And even when he did get free, the Lamar defensive backs were blanketing the Warrior receivers.
“I have to give props to No. 2 (Gastel). He’s a heck of a corner,” Deters said. “They had two guys on me, with one over the top. They’re fantastic DB’s, and their D-line wasn’t giving our quarterback time to throw.”
The loss was a crushing blow to what had been a perfect season to that point for the Warriors. Still, they finished the season 12-1 a year after going 3-7, with the senior class having left their mark on the program.
“We played our hearts out, and we set a good example for the underclassmen to follow,” senior Anthony Ross said.
“I’ll always remember those guys,” added Simone. “Nobody will be able to take this away from them.”
