SPORTS

FOOTBALL: Immaculata does its part in playoff hunt, edges Montgomery

Spartans use complete effort to stay alive in playoff hunt

Simeon Pincus
@SimeonPincus

SOMERVILLE – It’s been two decades since the Immaculata High School football team has missed the playoffs, and this year’s Spartans edition clearly had very little interest in having the streak end on their watch.

With Friday night’s meeting with Montgomery the Spartans’ final game before the state-tournament cutoff, and with Immaculata clinging to the No. 9 seed in Non-Public Group II needing a victory and some help to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2006, the Spartans certainly did their part at Brooks Field, using a complete effort to secure the victory.

Two long touchdown passes from quarterback Nathan Barnett to Shahkyle Matthews highlighted the first half, and the Immaculata defense stepped up big time in the second half, holding Montgomery scoreless, and the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak, topping the Cougars 22-21 at Somerville High School.

“We were focused all week, had a great week of practice and were working hard,” said senior defensive end Michael Colantuono, who recorded clutch sacks to end each of Montgomery’s last two drives of the game. “The playoffs are what I came to this school for. This team, we did well last year, and we want to finish that.”

“I would defy anybody to explain the power points, so we really didn’t get into it that much,” quipped Immaculata coach Tom Falato, whose team improved to 4-4. “We just wanted to play hard. We’re very banged up and the guys that had to fill in did a tremendous job. They fought hard.”

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It was Montgomery that drew first blood, getting a 10-yard touchdown run from quarterback Mike Patrizio and an extra point from Alejandro Villaverde to take a 7-0 lead with 4:58 left in the first quarter. Immaculata scored two possessions later on a 56-yard bomb from Barnett to Matthews, and led 8-7 after Barnett ran in the conversion.

Montgomery (3-5) re-took the lead with 9:53 remaining in the half on a 21-yard pass from Patrizio to Danny Young, with Villaverde adding the PAT, before Immaculata tied it with 6:35 left on a 55-yard Barnett-to-Matthews pass on the first play of the drive.

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The Cougars led again two minutes later, capping a nine-play 68-yard drive on a 10 yard run by Messiah Divine and Villaverde’s boot.

Montgomery would not score again.

“We just kept on grinding,” said Colantuono, who watched teammates Jimmy Kerwin and Keith Sivetz grab second-half interceptions to aid the cause. “Coaches told us to just keep on playing and to just make plays. So we did what are coaches told us to do.”

“The defense, after a shaky start, really came through,” said Falato, whose team got the game-winner with 1:22 left in the third quarter on a four-yard Barnett run and a Barnett-to-Matthews 2-point conversion. “It’s really the first time this year that we played in a complimentary way. The offense was efficient, the defense made big stops, and we played really well on special teams, too. I hope we’re getting hot at the right time.”

Simeon Pincus can be reached atSPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN