All three diocesan football teams came up short in week two. Bishop O'Connell lost 33-26 at McNamara; Bishop Ireton lost 29-20 at St. Christopher’s; and Paul VI lost 20-0 at Bullis.

The Knights, coached by Steve Trimble, fell to 1-1 on the season (0-1 WCAC), when they dropped a heart-breaking 33-26 decision to rival McNamara. The game was played Sept. 6 in Forestville, Md.

The "Royal Blue and Silver" came out of the blocks strong and led 14-0 early on courtesy of two Bush Hamdan TD strikes. Both went to senior slot back/tail back Jeremy Trimble.

The first TD was set up when senior defensive tackle Steve Smith recovered a Mustang fumble.

Despite being the dominant team in the first half, the Knights merely led 14-6 at intermission, which was of concern to senior trigger-man Hamdan.

"We should of had more points on the scoreboard at halftime," he said. "We squandered some opportunities."

The senior connected with junior wide receiver Andrew Stockel on a 22-yard TD pass midway through the third quarter to give O’Connell a 20-6 lead.

However, the Mustangs, coached by Bernard Joseph (a former Va. Tech standout defensive lineman in the Bruce Smith era) stormed right back. McNamara returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to cut their deficit to 20-13.

"That kickoff return really hurt," said Coach Trimble. "We had the momentum briefly and they seized it right there,"

The remainder of the game had even more fireworks. The Knights fumbled the ball away and two plays later McNamara tied the contest at 20.

Hamdan then threw an interception and four plays later the Mustangs surged ahead 26-20.

Stockel blistered through the McNamara coverage on the kickoff, returning the football to the Mustang 34-yard line.

Two plays later, Hamdan connected with senior tight end Ernie Lomax (also a standout basketball player) for an 18-yard TD strike. The extra point was missed and the game was deadlocked 26-26.

The Mustangs put together their game-winning drive, scoring the game winning TD on a halfback pass from the O'Connell 32-yard line.

The Knights had one more possession, but another costly interception sealed the defeat.

"We let one get away," said Coach Trimble.

"We didn't convert when we had the opportunities to convert. This was one of the toughest games I've ever been involved in as a player, both mentally and physically," said Hamdan.

"We simply allowed too many big plays today. We didn't run the ball offensively as well as we could have. We've got a tough schedule ahead of us. We're going to have to learn from this and improve in the upcoming weeks," said Coach Trimble.

Ireton Drops One to St. Christopher’s

The Ireton Cardinals, coached by Brian Inman (second season), dropped a tough 29-20 decision to St. Christopher’s in Richmond on Sept. 6, dropping their record to 0-2.

The "Cardinal and Gold" trailed 15-6 at intermission. Junior Brian McSween's 75-yard kickoff return accounted for the Cardinal’s points.

"My cousin, David Rodriguez, threw a huge block on the return," said McSween.

After an explosive third quarter, Ireton merely trailed 22-20. During the third stanza, junior quarterback Charlie West ripped off a 28-yard scoring run for the "Cardinal and Gold."

In addition, McSween added an 83-yard kickoff return. It is believed that the two kickoff returns for touchdowns, in the same game, is an Ireton record.

"I've been here for a total of six years, and it has not been done even once in a game during my tenure," said Inman.

The Cardinals surrendered one more fourth quarter TD and headed back to Alexandria on the short end of the score.

"We ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. At times we didn't really play all that well in the first half. However, the two-hour bus ride after this loss felt better than the 20-minute bus ride back from Arlington last Saturday (after O'Connell skunked Ireton 36-0)," said McSween.

"They were a good team. We just didn't execute offensively in the first half. In the second half, we really took some steps toward becoming a team. The bad news is that we had various degrees of injuries to seniors: Danny O'Donnell, Mike Thomas and underclassmen: Charlie West, David Rodriguez, Ed Culbert and Frank Curry," said Inman.

PVI Shut Out by Bullis

The Paul VI Panthers, coached by Pat McGroarty (first season), fell to 1-1 on the young season. The "Black and Gold" traveled to Montgomery Co. Md., and were shut out by the Bullis Bulldogs 20-0.

PVI trailed 7-0 at halftime but a third quarter and a fourth-quarter touchdown by the Bulldogs sent the Panthers home with a .500 record.

Bullis, coached by Walt King, is a member of the Interstate Athletic Conference, and has been one of the better teams in the Washington metro area for most of the past decade.

Paul VI's running game, featuring junior Calvin Salter and sophomore Keone Kyle, moved the ball at times, but the Panthers did not advance the ball into the "red zone" with any regularity.

Senior wide receiver Derek Bonk caught a number of balls from senior quarterback Mike Geraghty.

Defensive end Keone Kyle also recovered a fumble for the Panthers. Kyle was assisted on the defensive line by Calvin Salter (at the other end position), senior Joe Gannon and junior Art Dabney at the tackles and by senior Tim Coogan at nose guard.

Senior captain/offensive tackle Patrick Zanelotti was a stalwart on the Panthers offensive line, and also blocked the Bulldogs final P.A.T. attempt.

"We played hard. We lost a little bit of focus at the end. We need to prepare ourselves in practice better, so that we can play on the weekends better," said Zanelotti.

"This is a new system. Mike (Geraghty) is making progress at the quarterback position. We recorded a good win (14-7) last week versus Fork Union, but we need to learn how to keep winning. We win as a team here at Paul VI, and we lose here as a team at Paul VI. I believe in these players. We're going to be a good team down the road," said McGroarty.