BY MIKE LIVINGSTON
(Photos/video by Mike Livingston)
NORRISTOWN - If you were to ask any player, coach, or fan what the biggest on-field issues with Archbishop Carroll Football last season were, they’d probably all give you the same few answers; ‘offensive line,’ ‘stagnant offense,’ ‘flimsy defense,’ etc.
So, when the Patriots walked off the field last Saturday to the tune of a 25-8 victory over the Panthers of William Tennant, it surprised many. Not that the Patriots had beaten Tennant, who handled Carroll in a scrimmage last year - but in the fashion that they did so. That being playing relatively mistake-free football, with strong offensive line play, confident defensive prowess, and one of the most impressive offenses we’ve seen from the Pats in years highlighted by a two-headed monster in the backfield.
“In the first half we obviously didn’t come out too strong,” said senior running back Aaron Barnes. “We came out in the second half and handled business, the run game was on point and the O-Line was doing good, but we just did well as a team and locked in there.”
Coming off a flash-in-the-pan junior season, Barnes came into the night as the Pats star on offense - and while Barnes did shine, scoring a huge touchdown to give the Patriots a 14-8 lead out of the halftime gates he was assisted by freshman, Tre Montgomery. Montgomery, in his first high school game, racked up multiple big-time runs for the Patriots and ran one in for a touchdown to put the game out of reach for Tennant in the late going.
In the first quarter, however, it was the efforts of sophomore quarterback Jay Boyd that put the club in front in the early going. Boyd snuck one in at the one-yard line to make the score 7-0 Carroll midway through the first.
Boyd also saw Jurassic improvements from last season as he appeared much more poised in the pocket, finding tight windows and knowing when to throw the ball away. Much of that could’ve been assisted though by the play of a stellar Patriots offensive line which kept their quarterback upright for all but a few plays throughout the duration of the game.
Archbishop Carroll vs. William Tennant. (video/ Mike Livingston)
Carroll in 25-8 victory in game vs. Tennant. (photo/ MIke Livingston)
One of those plays however came in a pretty inconvenient spot as Boyd was pressured on a 3rd and 16 at his own seven-yard line. He rushed away from trouble but got tripped up on his pass resulting in a fumble which set up Tennant inside the Carroll ten-yard line.
The Panthers quickly turned things around making it 8-7.
The two clubs would trade three-and-outs for the rest of the half as the new-look Carroll defense took shape with some huge stops and some big-time tackles that kept Tennant in check for the majority of the night.
“Yeah, we think we really have good guys on defense,” said head coach Kyle Detweiler. “We just need to get some film and some footage to figure out who those guys are. But you know kudos to Tennant, we had a terribly blown assignment that let them get that touchdown early. We came together in the second half and rallied and shut them out for the entire half of football, and we needed to do that to support our offense.”
While the defense did shut out Tennant in the second half it didn’t appear the offense needed all too much ‘support’ early on in the half as Barnes took it 70 yards to the house on the first play of the half to make it 14-8 Patriots in a hurry.
On the following drive, it was Tennant this time making a run at it as they worked the ball all the way down to the 12-yard line before the Carroll defense stepped up once again with a forced fumble that was recovered by senior Omar Johnson, giving the Patriots possession.
“We really played together today,” said senior defensive captain Nick D’Alicandro. “Like we actually, especially down the line in the third and fourth quarter, really played together. You saw it, we only gave up one touchdown all day and then shut them out in the second half. The defense played really good today.”
It didn’t take long for the Pats to keep pouring it on after that either, after a nice drawn-out drive the club settled for a field goal off the foot of senior kicker Alex Raker who drilled one to make it 17-8 Patriots late in the third period.
Carroll vs. Tennant (photo/ Mike Livingston)
Carroll relying on strong O and D line for the season. (Photo/ Mike Livingston)
It was at this point that the second half of the Patriots’ new two-headed monster of a backfield began to rear its head. Montgomery, after breaking free for a few huge rushes to move Carroll into the red zone, got his shot - taking one in from the seven-yard line to make the score 25-8 after the two-point conversion.
“So, every time Aaron goes down, I’m always second string and step for him,” said Montgomery. “I do a lot for him, if he goes down, I’m right up there for him.”
Finally, after one more defensive stop, the Pats were able to kneel it out to end the night with a week one win for the first time since 2020.
With the win, the Patriots move to 1-0 and will look ahead to this Friday’s game against Wissahickon High School. That game gets underway at 7 p.m. on the campus of Wissahickon High School.
“We need to test ourselves,” said Detweiler. “Obviously because we play in such a testing league (Philadelphia Catholic League), I think Wissahickon is a team that mimics a lot of what we’ll see in the blue division. They’ve got a really good quarterback and receiving corps along with some athletes. We’ll exchange some film and see what they look like. It’s a tough test but it’s a good test for us to help us get ready for league play.”