All three diocesan football teams came up short the weekend of Sept. 13-14. The Bishop O'Connell Knights dropped a 34-13 decision to St. Alban’s. The Paul VI Panthers lost their second consecutive close game, a 12-7 setback to the Archbishop Carroll. And Bishop Ireton lost 57-24 to St. John’s.

O'Connell drops to 2-1 on the young season. Paul VI, coached by Mark Collier, and Ireton, coached by Brian Inman, both remain winless (0-3).

Either the Panthers or the Cardinals will get into the win column on Sept. 20 when they play each other. The Knights, on the other hand, visit powerhouse DeMatha this upcoming weekend.

O'Connell, fresh off of victories over Ireton and Broad Run, surrendered 14 first quarter points to the Bulldogs and never led. The Knights trailed 14-0 at halftime, before putting 13 points on the scoreboard in the third quarter. They trailed 14-13 late in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs, however, scored a late third quarter touchdown and two fourth quarter touchdowns to prevail 34-13.

Turnovers severely hurt O'Connell's chances. The Knights threw four interceptions and fumbled the ball away once. One O'Connell interception was returned for a Bulldog touchdown; another one was returned 60 yards.

O’Connell senior defensive back Andrew Bikowski recorded the Knights lone interception of the game. The Knights also recovered one Bulldog fumble.

Leading the Knights offensively was junior running back Jeremy Trimble, who had touchdown receptions of 19 and four yards from junior quarterback Bush Hamdan.

"On the first two series they really put it to us," said Trimble. "Our offense didn't really start to play until the third quarter."

Junior running back Ryan Molina led the ground attack with 68 yards on eight carries. Junior running back Matt Mallory gained 39 yards on six carries. Hamdan completed 10 of 28 passes for 122 yards.

"Considering the five turnovers, our defense played pretty well," said Molina. "Our offense overall just didn't get the job done. We need to get into the end zone more. It's as simple as that."

Senior linebacker Shane Briggs spearheaded the Knights defense with nearly 10 tackles.

"O'Connell is always very well coached," said Bulldog head coach Doug Boswell. "Our passing game is what made the difference.

"We underestimated them. We weren't as ready as we should have been. We need to learn from this game and get prepared for our future games," said junior tight end Ernie Lomax.

PVI easily could be 2-1. Instead, they weigh in with a 0-3 record following narrow 13-12 and 12-7 losses during the past two weeks.

PVI’s scored first when junior running back Scott Flanagan ripped off a 24-yard scoring jaunt in the second quarter. Carroll scored on a five-yard third quarter touchdown run, but failed to convert the two-point attempt. Thus, the Panthers led 7-6 entering the fourth quarter.

The PVI offense struggled in the second half. Carroll scored again in the fourth quarter, a 47-yard run, to take the decisive 12-7 lead.

Flanagan led PVI with 48 yards on eight carries. Junior quarterback Mike Geraghty had a tough day, completing four of 17 passes for 73 yards.

"It was kind of tough out there," said Geraghty. "Dan Cinalli - one of our blocking backs got injured and missed some big minutes. Starting offensive lineman Ryan Rose did not play. Starting tackle Tim Cougan was not 100 percent."

Due to the situation with Rose and Cougan, the Panther offensive line primarily consisted of freshman Daniel Methany at center, junior Patrick Zanelotti and sophomore Khalil Hall at guards, and juniors Joe Gannon and Danny Margoupis at tackles.

Defensively for the Panthers, senior defensive back Gabe Ralston and senior linebacker Jabari Queen each recorded an interception.

Ireton played an inspired game, but was eventually worn down by St. John’s.

The Cadets scored first, but the Cardinals answered with a five play/49-yard scoring drive to tie the contest at 7-7 when sophomore quarterback Charlie West connected with sophomore wide receiver Mike Holloway on a 31-yard scoring strike.

St. John’s scored one series later to take the lead for good 14-7, but Lawler booted a 31-yard field goal with 10:44 remaining in the second quarter to close the deficit to 14-10.

In the final minute of the second quarter, Cardinal senior free safety Tim Tassa stepped up and "picked off" a pass thrown by Cadet quarterback Bobby Lalli, a transfer from Ireton.

The first half started and finished well for the "Cardinal and Gold", but in a 7 1/2 minute stretch of the second quarter, St. John’s increased its lead from 14-10, to 42-10. St. John’s eventually led 57-10 after the third quarter.

Ireton senior running back Will Bryant punched in a two-yard fourth quarter run and the sensational sophomore duo of West and Holloway once more teamed up on a two-yard scoring strike to account for the 57-24 final score.

"We started the game well, but unfortunately we just couldn't hold it. Their swing passes were killing us. Our tackling needed to have been better, but it wasn't from a lack of effort. The 0-3 start is kind of disheartening, but we are improving in a lot of areas. We're just going to have to come together and just keep improving each week," said George Giammittorio.