DeKorne, defense steps up to lift St. Thomas football past Souhegan

AMHERST - Shawn DeKorne ran for three touchdowns and the St. Thomas High School football team needed a defensive stand in the final moments Friday night to hold off Souhegan for a 27-20 win.

The first quarter began with a tough, grinding drive by the Saints. Over 70-yards and chewing up nearly four minutes of clock, St. Thomas was able to pound in a quarterback keeper from DeKorne for the touchdown.

Although the extra point was missed, the drive was a clear message of the Saints intentions. After a few stalled drives from both offenses, the next game-changing play came in the final moments of the quarter, which gave life to the flat-lined Sabers.

On a deep fourth-and-10, a critical holding penalty was called against the Saints setting up the Sabers with a new set of downs, but also excellent field position.

John Lohnes hit receiver Trey Johnson out of the back field for a 20-yard screen which saw the speedy runner swerve in and out of the Saint defense for the touchdown. The play gave the Sabers the 7-6 lead as time expired in the first.

The second quarter was a strong defensive showing. Both offenses had trouble moving the chains and producing points. St. Thomas produced the only scoring drive of the quarter when DeKorne threw a laser to a streaking Derek O'Brien, who took it in for a touchdown.

The score gave the Saints the lead once again, 13-7. The Sabers attempted to find an answer in the final moments of the half, but the Saint defense was prepared and picked off a Lohnes’ pass at midfield to silence any hope for a response. 

The Sabers took possession to open the second, and after an impressive four-minute drive to open, Lohnes was able to connect for another quick screen pass to Luke Manning who rumbled in for a 10-yard score to give the Sabers the 14-13 lead. 

St. Thomas responded with DeKorne scoring another quarterback keeper to give the Saints a 20-14 lead. The defense held and forced the Sabers to a long punt, and responded again by scoring on another time-consuming drive, capped off with yet another DeKorne rushing touchdown to give the Saints the 27-14 lead. 

Souhegan’s Tyler Hall ripped off a massive 30-yard carry to set the Sabers up in Saints territory. On the next play, Johnson took the receiver sweep over 15 yards into the end zone to bring the game to 27-20. The Saints stalled out on offense, giving the Sabers the last chance they were needing to draw even or take the lead.

On fourth-and-long, Lohnes scrambled out of the pocket and found Johnson on the run for a gain of 35 yards to the Saints 20-yard line. But after four plays, and an incredible pass defense in the end zone, the Sabers attempt at a comeback was snuffed out by the Saints defensive unit.