Mount Saint Joseph football coach Rich Holzer lit up 34-0 on the scoreboard all week with the visitors’ winning.

He thought that score from Calvert Hall’s win over the Gaels last season would motivate his team even more headed into Saturday’s showdown with the Cardinals.

That strategy, along with a lot of early offense and stingy defense throughout, sparked the No. 3 Gaels to a 21-7 upset victory over the No. 2 Cardinals, who came in with the best record in the Baltimore area.

The Cardinals also came into the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game without veteran quarterback Mike Campbell, who tore an ACL and several other knee ligaments two weeks ago against Riverdale Baptist and will have surgery Monday.

In the first half, the Cardinals (5-1, 0-1 conference) didn’t pick up a single first down and the Gaels had a 21-0 lead.

“The kids last year and the coaches were embarrassed the way we played them,” Holzer said. “You could tell the kids wanted it at practice. They were laser focused at practice all week and they came out showing it.”

The Gaels (5-1, 2-0) didn’t score on their first possession, a 17-play drive marred by eight flags, but they held Calvert Hall to three-and-out.

On the next Gaels drive, sophomore quarterback Billy Atkins hit sophomore receiver Dont’e Thornton with a 55-yard scoring pass with 55 seconds left in the first quarter..

In the second half, junior running back Marlowe Wax ran for touchdowns of 4 and 1 yard to give the Gaels a 21-0 lead with 20 seconds left in the quarter.

“Our offense, we have a great receiving corps and the receiving corps helps spread out the defense,” Wax said, “and when that happens, it opens up for me — and the O line had a great day today.”

The defense had a great day too, holding the Cardinals to a total of six yards of offense in the first half.

“Our defense pulled us through. They’re tough,” Holzer said of his defensive unit. “With one exception, that one bad game that we played (58-6 loss to nationally ranked Good Counsel), they’re not giving up points; so hopefully that keeps going.”

Calvert Hall coach Donald Davis took the blame for not having his young quarterback, sophomore Amir Jenkins, better prepared. But the combination of the youngster’s inexperience on the varsity level and Mount Saint Joseph’s strong defense limited an offense that came into the game averaging more than 30 points.

“He’s a very good quarterback, Mike Campbell. That’s a tough loss,” Holzer said. “If we lost Billy we’d be going to another freshman and that would be really tough, so I can understand Calvert Hall. They’ve just got to figure things out with a new quarterback.”

Davis said, “I thought our young quarterbacks, they struggled at times and they did some nice stuff at times over the last couple weeks. We’ve just got to keep coaching them up and getting them better.”

In the second half, the Cardinals began moving the ball more with Jenkins under center and later, when his helmet came off on a play and he was sidelined, Sean Ketchen stepped in and completed three straight passes and had a 9-yard run.

With Jenkins still in the game, junior running back Ray Glass carried the ball four straight times, capped by a 1-yard touchdown spurt that pulled the Cardinals within 21-7 with 1:02 left in the third quarter.

Glass got a few more carries than usual after featured back Sean Tucker suffered an injury that Davis would not disclose. Although, he said Tucker would likely miss next week but not the rest of the season. The Cardinals had two offensive linemen come out of the game with injuries. Davis aid they too likely won’t play next week but should return.

Although they moved the ball better in the second half, the Cardinals also turned it over twice Tyler Leavy recovered a fumble and Wax had an interception.

A Cardinals’ defense that had allowed just 40 points in its first four games shut out the Gaels in the second half.

“They put together a tremendous drive early and aside from that, a couple big plays,” Davis said of the Gaels. “For as explosive an offense as they are, I thought we played them pretty tough. If you would have told me we would come out and shut St. Joe out in the second half, I’d be OK with that as long as they don’t score 55 points in the first half… Our defense came to play. We just made a couple mistakes early.”

katherine.dunn@baltsun.com

twitter.com/kdunnsun

CH

0

0

7

0

—

7

MSJ

7

14

0

0

—

21

MSJ—Thornton 55 pass from Atkins (Atkins kick)

MSJ—Wax 4 run (Atkins kick)

MSJ—Wax 1 run (Atkins kick)

CH—Glass 1 run (Moore kick)