Gallo Henson saw John Woodford run in and out of trouble nearly the entire game. With Cardinal Hayes leading by eight points in the final minutes, the defensive end had the St. Peter’s quarterback in his sights as he tried to make yet another play with his legs.
“It was me and him,” Henson said. “The team needs this. We need this stop right here.”
The senior brought Woodford to the turf for the sack at St. Peter’s 44-yard line on third and long. It was Hayes’ second sack on the Eagles’ final dive.
Woodford’s last desperation pass with 30 seconds remaining was incomplete and the Cardinals held on for a 20-12 victory over St. Peter’s in the teams’ CHSFL AA-A regular season finale at SUNY Maritime Friday night. The win clinches the second seed in the upcoming AA-A playoffs for Hayes.
“He had been running around all night,” running back Jeramiah Kobena said. “We are not great against mobile quarterbacks. So it was kind of fun watching our defense chase him down.”
On the prior drive, the Hayes defense forced a Hakim Rice fumble on the Eagles 29-yard line. Donald Thomas took the next play from scrimmage up the middle 29 yards for a touchdown to put the Cardinals (6-1, 6-1 CHSFL AA-A) ahead, 20-12, with 4:28 remaining. The junior rushed for 75 yards on 15 carries. Thomas also scored on a 9-yard run to give Hayes a two-touchdown lead with 50 seconds left in the first half.
“It gave us a huge sigh of relief,” Thomas said of his second score. “We had trust in our defense to get us a big stop and get us a win.”
The Cardinals were without starting quarterback Kwamayne Davis, who was suspended a week for academic reasons. Sophomore Ryan Camillo played well enough to get his first varsity win. He completed 11 of 18 passes for 159 yards and two interceptions. He also made some plays with his feet, including a 4-yard touchdown run to get Hayes on the board in the first quarter.
“Ryan did a great job,” Hayes coach C J O’Neill said. “He made some nice reads and managed the game, which was very important for us. He was composed, which is a big thing.”
St. Peter’s drove 58 yard in nine plays and Will Scali finished it off with a diving 20-yard touchdown catch to get the Eagles (3-4, 3-4) on the board. A Jonathan Baratta interception set up Woodford’s 4-yard keeper that pulled the Eagles within 14-12 with 11:18 left. The Cardinals’ defense, however, took care of the rest.
“I told the defense [at halftime] you have to bring up the intensity level up a little bit because they are trying to spoil our season,” Kobena said.”That’s what they did. They stepped up.”
