John Bapst advances to first regional championship in 11 years
The No. 2 John Bapst Crusaders overpowered underdogs No. 6 Outdated City on Saturday afternoon, punching in 4 speeding touchdowns en path to a 28-14 victory and an look within the Class D North regional title recreation.
The Crusaders scored on their first two drives of the sport at Cameron Stadium in Bangor, and sealed the win with senior working again Logan McMahon’s second landing of the night time early within the fourth. The victory propelled John Bapst to its first regional championship look since 2012.
“It feels nice, man,” McMahon mentioned. “We’ve got numerous seniors that do nice issues day-after-day. We’re actually excited for this chance.”
Fellow Bapst senior backs Hayden Rollins (59 yards speeding, two first half touchdowns) and Will Cashman (71 yards speeding) complemented McMahon’s efforts (152 complete yards) within the Crusaders’ difficult motion-powered floor recreation. Head coach Dan O’Connell and his squad orchestrate a triple choice system that’s tough for rookies to study at first, however finally offers the Crusaders loads of flexibility on offense.
“It’s fairly second nature at this level,” McMahon mentioned. “However for brand new gamers it’s onerous to grasp. It’s an important offense, clearly.”
McMahon, Rollins and Cashman all recorded a number of runs for double-digit yards, and sophomore quarterback Aiden Oullette additionally sprinkled in a couple of display screen passes to McMahon that every went for 15+ yards. The Coyotes recorded three tackles for losses and two sacks, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to cease the Crusader locomotive.
“Outdated City performed robust and did an important job — from Week 4 to now they’re a very totally different staff,” O’Connell mentioned. “We needed to reply the bell.”
With the victory, John Bapst improved to 7-2, and can play the winners of No. 1 Foxcroft Academy and No. 4 Winslow subsequent Saturday at Hampden Academy. It’s been fairly the journey for O’Connell and his gifted senior class, who completed 1-7 simply two years in the past.
“They obtained beat up as sophomores, however they hung collectively,” O’Connell mentioned. “Final 12 months we took an enormous step ahead with studying the right way to compete, and had a fusion of a very good freshman class. So we knew coming again this 12 months there was a chance to achieve success. I’m happy with these children.”
On the opposite sideline, Outdated City head coach Charles Beale and firm are vying to duplicate John Bapst’s success. The two-7 Coyotes are actually younger – solely graduating 5 seniors this 12 months – and simply shocked 4-4 Belfast earlier this week with a 14-12 upset victory on the highway. Down the stretch, Outdated City has proven it has loads of coronary heart, and boasted a good run recreation. Speedy quarterback Ethan Closson (class of 2027), star lineman Brady Paradis (class of 2025) and dynamic utility man Elijah Alston (class of 2025) will all be returning subsequent 12 months, and are hungry for extra success.
“We’re a very younger staff, so we simply gotta put the work on this offseason,” Alston mentioned. “We’ve got the dedication.”
