Carver-Atlanta no match for St. Pius

By JEFF HAWS

For the AJC

When Carver scored its first touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the first half, it looked like there might be a game at St. Pius.

But the Golden Lions weren’t taking a knee.

Aided by two personal foul penalties, St. Pius covered 78 yards in 41 seconds, capped by Stephen Wendel’s touchdown catch on a fade pattern. The score gave the Lions a three-touchdown lead and effectively put the game away in their 42-7 victory.

Without that drive, St. Pius (4-0, 1-0 in Region 
5B-AAA) would have had to kick the ball back to the Panthers to start the second half, giving them the chance to make it a one-score game if they could get in the end zone on that possession.

Posting another score of their own turned the tables on Carver.

“It was huge for momentum,” St. Pius coach Paul Standard said. “For the third week in a row, we ran our two-minute offense, got down there and got a touchdown. I was just thinking about a field goal, so I was happy to do that.”

That drive featured four of the Lions’ five passes in the game. The rushing attack set the pace for St. Pius.

Cole Moon was the workhorse. He had 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and finished with 114 yards. Teammate George Kennedy used runs of 48 and 21 yards to amass 106 yards, including a third-quarter touchdown.

Whether it was Moon plowing between the tackles or Kennedy streaking to the outside, the Panthers (1-2, 0-2 in 5B-AAA) had little answer for the St. Pius running game, which finished with 341 total yards.

“That’s the way our offense works,” Moon said. “Sometimes, it’s me. Sometimes, it’s [quarterback] Trey [White]. Sometimes, it’s George. Whatever’s working, we’re going to keep doing it until they stop it. Then, we’re going to go to the next thing.”

While the St. Pius offense was piling up yards on the ground, the Lions’ defense was doing its part as well.

The Panthers worked the short passing game with some success — Orimpian Allen was 16 of 27 for 140 yards — but St. Pius consistently kept Carver receivers from breaking free. None of Carver’s 16 completions went for more than 14 yards, and nine were shorter than 10 yards.