ST. THOMAS SINKS WARREN JFK

St Thomas Aquinas and Warren JFK met up for an important Divison 7 Region 25 matchup tonight. Warren JFK at the start of the game was number 3 in the region while St. Thomas was 6th. St. Thomas used a lot of big plays and 5 touchdown passes by Senior Quarterback Alex Hawkins throws 5 touchdowns to win the showdown 34-9.

The Eagles took the opening kickoff down the field all the way down to the Knights 17-yard line, the Eagles had to settle for 34-yard  field goal by senior kicker Armand Nannicola to give the Eagles the 3-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter. The rest of the quarter was a back and forth battle to end the first quarter, the Eagles failed on a 4th down and 5 on the Knights 30-yard line to end the quarter. The Knights opened the second quarter with the ball after the Eagles turned the ball over on downs. Hawkins completed a short slant to Junior Vinny Zeren to the Eagles 49-yard line on 3rd and 4. On the next play, Hawkins threw a long 49-yard pass to Senior Elijah Chungo who beat his defender by a step in the left side of the end zone, to give the Knights a 7-3 lead after the extra point was added.

Kennedy blocked a field goal attempt by the Knights with 1:25 left in the first half and tried to pick it up inside their own 5-yard line and took over on their own 3-yard line. On the first play after the blocked field goal Sophmore Michael Mauro took a handoff right up the middle to the Eagles 46-yard line. Coach Bayuk ran 2 more plays not taking a timeout content on going into half time trailing 7-3 to the Knights.
The Knights blew the game open in the 3rd quarter when they took the opening kickoff of the 3rd quarter and with 11:14 left in the quarter, Hawkins threw a slant pass to Junior Asia Burk who outran the secondary for a 49-yard touchdown to make the score 14-3. On the kickoff, JFK Junior Gabe Green picked it up around the 15-yard line and got stripped of the ball the Knights fell on the ball at the 17 to get the ball back. After an incomplete pass and a holding penalty, Hawkins threw a ball over the middle to Junior RaySean Owens who the Eagles lost in coverage and were wide open at the goal line for the 26-yard touchdown pass to make the score 21-7. The Knights scored 14 points in the first 2 minutes and 43 seconds of the 2nd half. Right before the end of the 3rd quarter JFK drove the ball down to the 13-yard line and turned the ball over on downs after an incomplete pass by Senior quarterback Christan Marantis threw the ball a little to far to the outside to Junior Cameron Hollobaugh. Aquinas took over and a couple plays later Hawkins hit Burk again on a short pass to the left side and Burk broke 2 tackles and just was touched the rest of the 81 yards to the end zone, the extra point was blocked which made the score 27-3 with 5 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

The Eagles tried to gain momentum in the 4th quarter and with 9:02 left in the 4th quarter, Marantis threw a beautiful 28-yard fade to the back of the end zone. Junior wideout Sejjan Couto ran under the pass to cut the lead to 27 to 9 after the Knights blocked the extra point. After an exchange of punts, Hawkins threw his 5th touchdown pass of the night to Vinny Zeren for 15 yards to cap the scoring at 34- 9.
Alex Hawkins finished the night with 336 yards passing and 5 touchdown passes 2 of those to Asia Burks. St Thomas outgained Kennedy for the game 447 total yards to 364 yards for Warren JFK. St Thomas improves to (5-2) they take on the North Vikings (1-6) at home next week. Warren JFK (4-3) get to come back home next week to take on Gilmour Academy (3-3)