Fortenberry, Archbishop Carroll high-step their way to comeback win
BRISTOL TWP. — Keenan Fortenberry sprinted toward his bench, high-stepping along the way. The Archbishop Carroll defensive tackle had just blocked an attempted extra point and, in Friday’s wacky and wild Catholic League Blue Division game, Fortenberry believed that failed point-after attempt might prove to be the difference.
“Honestly,” he said, “that’s the way this game felt.”
Archbishop Carroll roared back from a double-digit, first-half deficit to topple Conwell-Egan, 27-23.
The Patriots (4-2, 3-0) scored 20 unanswered points to open the second half and fended off a late comeback bid by the host Eagles (2-4, 0-3) to stay perfect in league play.
Coach Kyle Detweiler’s team also made sure to eke out a win with its starting quarterback Russell Minor-Shaw watching the game’s final 15 minutes from the bench. A Conwell-Egan defensive back rolled up on Minor-Shaw’s right ankle following the quarterback’s 20-yard run in the third quarter.
“We had to be a full four-quarter team,” Fortenberry said. “We had to keep battling. We had guys go down and we had to do it for them.”
Archbishop Carroll did its part to manage the clock and win a critical field-position battle just prior to halftime. The Patriots’ defense burned all of its timeouts in getting a stop and prompting a Conwell-Egan punt.
Archbishop Carroll’s Russell Minor-Shaw escapes the pocket and sprints for a 32-yard touchdown—untouched.
The Patriots lead Conwell-Egan, 13-10, with 8:28 left in 3Q. pic.twitter.com/XNykqFVFwe
— Christopher A. Vito (@ChrisVito) September 28, 2019
The result, following a 22-yard punt return from Billy Coppock? A two-play drive that resulted in a 34-yard touchdown strike from Minor-Shaw to Malachi Hansen. Minor-Shaw had plenty of time in a well-developed pocket to step and find Hansen streaking through the middle of the field for the easy score.
Hansen’s fourth reception of the first half helped trim Conwell-Egan’s lead to 10-7 at intermission.
Prior to that drive, it had been all Eagles. They moved the ball with ease, scoring on two of their first three drives. One of them, a touchdown, came on a fourth-and-five conversion. Quarterback Tyler Barry whipped the ball to his left side on a designed screen pass, with Sincere Thomas following his blockers for a 21-yard score.
On their next possession, the Eagles cashed in with a 30-yard field goal from Luke Jackson.
“We went to the locker room thinking about what we could do to turn this around,” Hansen said.
Third-quarter rushing touchdowns by Minor-Shaw, Richie Kimmel and Brennan Robinson — all on Carroll’s first three possessions after halftime — gave the Patriots a cozy 27-10 edge.
Yet Conwell-Egan did not give in. The Eagles tacked on two more touchdowns (again, on fourth-down conversions) to draw within one score. Well, almost. Fortenberry broke through the line to knock down Jackson’s extra-point attempt.
“I told the guy next to me, my d-tackle, you just have to press them and I’m going to get right through,” he said.
Carroll got the ball back, clinging to a four-point lead with just over four minutes to play. The Patriots needed a first down desperately to keep the clock moving. On third down, backup quarterback Nate Gould scrambled to his left and out of the pocket, then found Kimmel drifting into open space near midfield and floated a pass to him for a 22-yard connection.
“I think everybody was surprised by that,” Hansen said. “Nate did a great job rolling out and they have good DBs, but Nate found a weakness and he connected with Richie. That sealed the deal.”
“Unbelievable pass,” Fortenberry said. “Unbelievable game. What a win.”
