Santosuosso, Bishop Guertin football stayed tough to get win over Timberlane

When it comes to high school football, the highest praise a player can get from John Trisciani has nothing to do with ability.

The Bishop Guertin coach wants to see kids who are tough.

"I think the best compliment you can give any kid, no matter what position they play, or how much they play, is how tough they are," the Cardinals coach said. "Matt (Santosuosso) is really tough."

The senior showed it in Bishop Guertin's 23-20 win over Timberlane last Friday by rarely coming off the field, as he not only turned in a big performance on offense, but came up with key plays on defense and special teams.

"There’s a lot of talk about the quarterback stuff, but how he played at safety, he returned kicks, he returned punts," Trisciani said. "The kid is a football player and he’s excelling in all phases of the game. That’s what we need. If Matt is willing to do it, if Matt is willing to give a great effort, can we get some other guys to follow suit."

Santosuosso saved perhaps his best play for last, as he ended the Owls' hopes of a come back by intercepting a fourth-down pass from Timberlane quarterback Dom Coppeta with 23.2 seconds left.

"I knew they were going to throw the ball to the right side," Santosuosso said. "They were picking on that all game. Once I saw the quarterback’s eyes move, I made sure I ran over there. I knew that ball was coming there and I went in the right place. I got what I could and got out (of bounds)."

While the interception on defense helped secure the win for the Cardinals (2-0), Santosuosso's play on offense helped them build up a 23-7 lead going into halftime.

For the second week in a row, Santosuosso was the team's leading rusher, this time picking up 145 yards on 26 carries to go with two touchdowns. He was also 6 of 10 passing for 89 yards, with many of those plays picking up first downs for Bishop Guertin.

In the first half, Santosuosso accounted for eight first downs, five on running plays and three on completions. Two of those came on third down and another was an 18-yard completion to Ethan Chimielecki on third-and-26 that ended up being a first down after Timberlane was called for a personal foul after the play.

That came back to haunt the Owls, as it not only kept a drive going for the Cardinals, but four plays later, after connecting with Connor Guibord for an 11-yard gain, Santosuosso scored on an 18-yard run with 24 seconds left in the first half.

"We’ve got to get off the field in those situations," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said of the personal foul. "Down and distance, and tackling, scheme, it’s a combination of a lot of things that gave that up. You can’t do that against anybody, especially a team like these guys. These guys are good and they take advantage of opportunities you give them."

Santosuosso kept giving his side those opportunities throughout the first half and on Bishop Guertin's first drive of the second half.

For the second week in a row, the Cardinals defense opened the third quarter with a three-and-out and then had a long possession with a chance to put the game away. Santosuosso picked up two first downs, including a fourth-and-4 conversion where his 27-yard run got Bishop Guertin down to the Timberlane 23-yard line.

Back-to-back runs by Charlie Bellavance, who finished with 53 yards and a touchdown, gave the Cardinals first-and-goal at the 9, but the drive stalled there. On fourth down, Michael MacDonough came in to take the snap and Santosuosso split out wide, but the snap was fumbled and recovered by Timberlane's Nikolas Langlois, who brought it out to the 20-yard line.

"We talked about at halftime, the really good teams are going to finish," Trisciani said. "That’s a championship team, clearly. They’ve got championship coaches. They’re not used to being down and they’re not just going to give up. I think coming out of the half, we knew if we could get a stop and then score, we were in a similar situation as last week, where it’s 30-7, compared to if it doesn’t happen and then it’s 23-14."

Timberlane didn't find the end zone until the first play of the fourth quarter, as Coppeta hit Jaden Mwangi for a 37-yard touchdown. With an extra point making it a nine-point game, the Owls went for two instead, and Coppeta's pass fell incomplete, keeping a two-score game.

"I was pretty confident as things were going, but you can feel it (momentum shift)," Trisciani said. "You’ve just got to have kids make a play."

Bishop Guertin got them from its defense, too. In the first half, with the Cardinals up 13-7 and the Owls pinned deep in their end, Jakob Baker forced Coppeta backward out of the pocket. While the quarterback was able to elude one rusher, he couldn't get away from another, as Rocco Geraci brought down Coppeta for a safety.

Baker ended up getting two sacks of his own in the fourth quarter, the second of which came on Timberlane's final drive, and for the moment, pushed the Owls back, setting up a fourth-and-21.

Fitzgerald, much to the chagrin of his staff, called for a fake punt and senior Braden Perras ran for 25 yards, picking up the first down.

"It was long and they were in my ear," the coach said. "We’re grasping at straws at that point. We had played really well defensively the second half, but they’re good and I felt like that was the best opportunity to keep the ball in our hands. We practice it, we got fortunate with it."

But two holding penalties and a false start pushed Timberlane back again and Santosuosso finished things off with his interception.

"We had to stay focused," he said. "Guys were getting out of it. We had to stay locked in on the game. The last drive showed how we could stay focused and take care of business."