Stars take advantage of mistakes to build lead, put away the Packers with their skill
The Academy of Holy Angels took advantage of some special teams’ errors by the South St. Paul Packers to build an early lead. Then their domination of the line of scrimmage and the skill of their position players took over. The Stars would pull away early in the second half and get to 1-0 with a 44-14 home victory.
After turnovers from both offenses, the Packers were set to punt near mid-field. The snap alluded the punter. Although the Packers were able to turn the bad snap into at least a short gain, Holy Angels still took over at midfield. Their offensive flexibility was evident as the Stars moved the ball down the field by pounding the ball in the middle with running back Alex Knoll, getting on the edge with the speed of do-everything athlete Tristin Wiggins and the arm of quarterback Theo Doran. Joe Longo would put the Stars ahead with a two-yard touchdown run – giving the Stars a 7-0 lead.
The Stars’ offense threatened again but was turned back on a fourth and eleven in the red zone. The defense would step up and push South St. Paul’s offense back. They pinned the Packers’ offense in the shadow of their goal line. Another poor snap resulted in a safety and a 9-0 lead for the Stars.
After the free kick, Knoll found a hole up the middle and added to the Stars’ lead with a 30-yard touchdown run.
The defense continued to dominate the Packers up front and forced another punt. The special teams’ issues continued for the Packers. A heavy rush forced the punter to hurry his kick, and because his timing was off, he shanked the kick. With the ball going straight up in the air, the ball landed just past the line of scrimmage and bounced backward for a net negative yardage punt. The Stars would take advantage once again. With another short field, Knoll found the end zone again to build the lead to 23-0.
“I think we executed well, we read our keys well on defense and hustled to the ball,” two-way lineman Rollin Rowe said. “On the offensive line, we focused on finishing our blocks and on the defensive line watching our keys and staying disciplined.”
Coming out of the locker room in the second half, the Stars put the game to bed. On the first play from scrimmage, the Stars picked off a pass. On the second play of the half, Doran connected with Seth Owens for 30 yards and a 30-0 lead.
“Our offensive line was phenomenal,” Doran said. “No sacks, almost no tackles behind the line. I can’t give them enough credit for how they played.”
The athletic Stars were not about to let the Packers get back in the game. Over the next two quarters, the teams would alternate touchdowns – giving the Stars a comfortable victory.
“Our defense was great,” Doran said. “They held them to 14 points. There was punt after punt after punt and that just graded on them. It was a good team effort.”
Next week Holy Angels travels to Park Center (0-1) while South St. Paul goes home to play Simley (1-0)
