December 3, 2008
By: Ed Mills
Source: Bergen Record
WALLINGTON - An infusion of youth has St. Mary already aiming for a big season in 2009. The Gaels gave an indication of how bright their future is by turning in an explosive display against Wallington on Thursday.
Ignited by the running of sophomore Kyree Tyson-Jones and freshman Quadree Hubbard and a big kickoff return by sophomore Jerome Thomas, St. Mary defeated Wallington, 25-10. The Gaels, who
won four of their last five games, finished at 8-3 and Wallington finished 6-4.
After Wallington took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Alfred Tillerson, Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a score.
St. Mary went 36 yards in five plays, scoring on a 4-yard run by Tyson-Jones to take the lead for good at 13-7 with 2:52 left in the first quarter.
Tyson-Jones carried 24 times for 124 yards and Hubbard had 155 yards on 23 carries, with 127 coming in the second half.
Hubbard went over from 4 yards 3:56 into the fourth quarter to make it 19-10. He salted away the game with a 35-yard touchdown run with 1:02 remaining.
"All of our skill people are back and we have four of our linemen returning, too," Tyson-Jones said. "Today is just a small sample of what we are capable of accomplishing next year."
Sophomore Marcin Koc, who earlier had a field goal blocked, hit one with 5:23 left in the third quarter to pull the Panthers within 13-10. Koc's seventh field goal of the year came after the Panthers' Tom Minieri recovered a fumble at the St. Mary 29.
St. Mary had a few other opportunities to expand its lead, but an interception by Jay Pacheco and fumble recoveries by Peter Puzio and Tillerson kept Wallington down by only three entering the final quarter.
"We hurt ourselves a little bit with the turnovers, but we more than made up for it by doing a great job moving the ball on the ground and taking time off the clock," said St. Mary coach Mike Sheridan. "This team showed a great amount of perseverance. It's definitely a good sign for next year. We had a tough loss to Paterson Catholic last week [19-7 in Non-Public Group 1 championship game], but we came out and played exceptionally well and hard today."