Patriot Games: Minor-Shaw sets Archbishop Carroll record in win over Lansdale Catholic

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Throwing with a prolific touch and running like a fullback any time he hit the open field, quarterback Russell Minor-Shaw set a single-season school record Saturday while leading his team to the brink of another historic mark.

Minor-Shaw’s all-around skills — he threw for 163 yards and rumbled for 109 on the ground — led Archbishop Carroll to a 31-7 victory over Lansdale Catholic Saturday, bringing the Patriots to within one victory of their first winning season since 2007.

“We gave him the game ball,” coach Kyle Detweiler said, after Minor-Shaw threw his 16th and 17th touchdown passes of the season, breaking the school record set by Mike Bailey in 1973. “We got all the kids to sign the ball and present that to him. He is just a remarkable kid in his own right.”

“It’s a really big win. We needed this,” said Minor-Shaw, who also broke away to a 63-yard touchdown run and added a seven-yarder. “I felt pretty good today. We were scheming everything out this week during practice and we just executed pretty well.”

Carroll (4-4, 1-4 Catholic League Blue) wraps up the regular season with a home game against Bishop McDevitt. On a cool, breezy day on the turf at Wissahickon, the Patriots rushed for 261 yards, threw for 168 and took the ball away twice.

“It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride this year, and that’s why we’re a .500 ballclub,” Detweiler said. “We’ve had one phase here, one phase there, but today we were able to do it with all three phases. And that was against a physical and very well-coached Lansdale Catholic team.”

The Patriots struck quickly, taking a 7-0 lead on their first series when Minor-Shaw hit Malachi Hansen on a crossing route, good for 40 yards and a score.

Carroll doubled its lead early in the second quarter when Minor-Shaw broke free at the line of scrimmage, shed a pair of tacklers and barrelled through the secondary, not stopping until he had a 63-yard touchdown run that exemplified the Patriots’ initiative.

“He played fullback last year,” Detweiler said. “And we had some issues with our turnover and roster, and we needed a quarterback. Russ stepped up and now he owns a record.”

Minor-Shaw had another impressive run later when he bounced off defenders and weaved his way for 35.
Lansdale Catholic (2-6, 1-4 PCL Blue) cut the margin in half when Mike Shragher gathered in a seven-yard scoring pass from Peter McHugh, making it 14-7.

The Crusaders moved the ball consistently. But they turned the ball over on downs twice inside the 10 and had another drive stopped by an interception.

“Frustrating,” LC coach Tom Kirk said. “We were down there four times and scored once. And obviously you can’t win a game that way. When you’re down there, you have to score touchdowns.

“We were moving the ball and doing some good things, but the field gets really small down there. You’ve just got to dig down and figure out a way to get it in the end zone. And no matter what, we just weren’t able to do it.”

Danny Dutkiewicz battled for 136 yards on 30 carries for the Crusaders, who host Neumann-Goretti next week.

The Patriots padded their lead with a 24-yard field goal by Juliano Mastrocola to make it 17-7 at the half, and widened the gap to 24-7 when Minor-Shaw threw a pretty, 19-yard fade to Koran Butler. Minor-Shaw scored on a seven-yard run to provide the final difference.

“I hope we win next week, because we haven’t had a winning season in 11 years,” Minor-Shaw said. “It’s been a while.”