ST SEBASTIAN’S

ATHLETICS
FALL SPORTS
O’Malley pass resulted in a 12-7 lead for
the Arrows. Knowing how tight the game
was, the Arrows opted to go for two, and
senior captain quarterback Patrick Healy
wanted the ball in his hands. Running
a quarterback sweep, Healy was met at
the two yard line by two Belmont Hill
defenders, but he refused to be denied,
fighting through would-be tacklers and
earning the Arrows two crucial points.
Since the Arrows defense had been stuffing
Belmont Hill ever since the first series of
the game, they were hoping to shut them
down one more time when they pinned
them deep in their territory on the ensuing
kickoff with just over three minutes to
play in the game. Belmont Hill, however,
refused to submit and put together
an impressive drive that resulted in a
touchdown with only 18 seconds to play
in the game. With the extra point added,
Belmont Hill knotted the game at 14-14,
sending the game into overtime. The
Arrows lost the coin toss and had to start
on offense, but they wasted no time putting
the pressure back on their opponents when
Healy threw for his third touchdown of the
game, this time to Connor Strachan, on the
first play of overtime. Healy again took the
ball in his own hands on the conversion
attempt, and though it looked like he
clearly crossed the goal line with the ball,
he was called short, and the Arrows defense
took the field up by six points. A huge stop
for no gain on Belmont’s first play limited
their options, and they took to the air to try
to score. On second down the quarterback
rolled to his right and threw to the corner
of the end zone but senior cornerback
Conor Hilton was there in coverage and the
pass sailed out of bounds. The third down
play had the same result but on the left side,
so it came down to a fourth down play.
Again the quarterback tried Hilton’s side,
and again he was up to the challenge as the
pass fell incomplete. For the third game in
a row, the fan section stormed the field and
celebrated the hard-fought victory for the
Arrows, now 4-0.
Having made their way through the
toughest three game stretch of the schedule,
the Arrows were in the driver’s seat but
not looking past their next opponent,
the Middlesex Zebras. The scoring got
off to a quick start when on the Arrows’
first play from scrimmage, Brendan Daly
burst through a hole opened up by the
right side of the line and ran over two
defenders into open field on his way to a
67 yard touchdown run. Middlesex, with
their strong passing game, moved the ball
well on their first drive, but safety Brian
O’Malley batted away a fourth down pass
attempt to give the Arrows the ball on
their own 23 yard line. Three plays later,
another explosive play resulted in a 77
yard touchdown run by fullback Connor
Strachan. Middlesex did not back down
in the face of the 14-0 first quarter deficit,
as they scored on their next possession on
a 37 yard pass play. From that point on,
however, the Arrows controlled the game
as Brendan Daly helped drive the ball down
the field with his 254 rushing yards, and
Connor Strachan finished off the drives
with four touchdown runs on only seven
carries. Running back James Fiore ’14 also
added a touchdown run, and one more
score from Middlesex in the fourth quarter
resulted in a 42-14 final score.
The Arrows’ next two games also
had lopsided results, as they beat St.
George’s 47-12 and Groton 35-0. Versus
St. George’s Brian O’Malley caught two
more touchdown passes and Brendan Daly
rushed for three touchdowns to lead the
Arrows, and Joe Kearney ’14 and James
Fiore finished off the scoring with an 80
yard kickoff return and a 3 yard touchdown
respectively. Against Groton, the Arrows
jumped out to a lead early again on a
Brendan Daly touchdown run, but the rest
of the game was a mix of high and low for
the star running back. After rushing for
164 yards, which put him over the 1,000
yard mark for the season, Daly pulled
a hamstring, ending his regular season.
Despite the major blow to the team, the
Arrows remained focused, and the defense
shut down the Groton attack all game to
earn the shutout victory. The Arrows were
now 7-0 heading into the final game of the
season against a talented Thayer Academy
team, who had only lost by six points earlier
in the season to the other undefeated team
in the ISL, Governor’s Academy.
Having only beaten Thayer by one
point last year and knowing that they
were returning all of their top players, the
Arrows knew the challenge they faced
trying to finish off the undefeated regular
season against them despite Thayer’s 3-4
record coming into the game. Missing
Daly, the Arrows knew that other seniors
would need to step up in his absence. The
first two to respond were Patrick Healy and
Brian O’Malley when Healy threw a deep
pass to O’Malley to get the Arrows to the
Thayer 20 yard line on their first series. A
few plays later they connected again when
Healy threw a fourth down pass from two
yards out to a diving O’Malley in the end
zone. O’Malley’s kick gave the Arrows
an early 7-0 lead. The Arrows defense
looked to be dominant again early, forcing
Thayer to go three and out on their first
two possessions. Unfortunately, a smart
play call by Thayer and a breakdown in
coverage by the Arrows led to a deep
touchdown pass early in the second quarter
to Thayer’s top receiver. Fortunately for
the Arrows Thayer missed the point after
attempt, so the Arrows held on to a 7-6
lead. Thayer struck again on a big play on
their next possession when their running
back found a gap on the left side and arced
out to the sideline for a 57 yard touchdown
run. After their point after, Thayer went
into halftime with a 13-7 lead. The Arrows
had found themselves in this position
before, trailing by a score in a game against
a tough opponent, and they knew how to
respond. Most impressive in the second
half was the defensive effort. The Arrows
never gave Thayer a hope of scoring again,
swarming to the ball and dropping the
Thayer running backs and quarterback
for several lost yards. Early on in the third
quarter, the Arrows offense struck again
on another fourth down connection from
Patrick Healy to Brian O’Malley. Standing
at fourth and eleven from the 36 yard line,
Healy dropped back and heaved the ball up
the left sideline to O’Malley who had beaten
his defender to the outside. O’Malley
finished off the touchdown run and tacked
on the extra point as the Arrows took
back the lead 14-13. For the remainder of
the game, the Arrows defense shut down
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