Canatella guides balanced offense as Holy Cross downs Rummel, 49-28

NEW ORLEANS – The phrase “defense wins championship” is thrown around a lot in the football world. That’s because it’s true.

The Holy Cross Tigers hope to compete for a Catholic League title but the Tigers are headlined by a potent offense that was on full display Friday night at Tad Gormley Stadium in a 49-28 victory over Archbishop Rummel.

These two teams met at this same time last year when the Raiders narrowly defeated the Tigers. This year was quite different.

The heart of the Tigers’ offense, Cole Canatella had a performance to remember. He scored four touchdowns, two rushing and two passing, and amassed 305 all-purpose yards to keep Holy Cross unbeaten. Canatella threw only one incompletion, finishing 15 of 16 for 259 yards and two scores and he rushed eight times for 46 yards and a pair of scores.

Holy Cross dominated the first half. The scoring started with an 11-yard touchdown rush from Ke’Rynn Smith. Quickly following that, Canatella scrambled for 14 yard touchdown to bring the score to 14-0.

From that point, it was all passing to add on to the lead. Canatella hit Derrick Johnson on a 61-yard catch and run before Krosse Johnson’s 35-yard scoring reception put the Tigers up 28-0. Both receivers had over 100 yards.

The Raiders retaliated right before the end of the half with a 5-yard rush by Jaidyn Martin to go into halftime down 28-7.

Coming into the second half, the Raiders offense looked rejuvenated. Getting the ball out of the break, an impressive Rummel drive was capped by Martin again finding the endzone on a 4-yard run.

Holy Cross needed to halt the momentum and did just that. Canatella’s quarterback sneak on the 1-yard line finished off a needed response to push the lead back up to three scores at 35-14.

On the first play of Rummel’s next drive, Ruben Ramirez Jr. caught a long pass by Generald Buggage Jr. and sprinted for an 80-yard touchdown.

However, the Tigers continued to put touchdown drives together. A pair of touchdown runs from Kayden Andoh and Claude Johnson respectively on consecutive drives out the game away. Andoh’s 1-yard run and Johnson’s 37 yard scamper capped an impressive offensive attack for Holy Cross.

The Raiders added a late score on Martin’s third touchdown of the night, a 60-yard jaunt.

Already possessing a dynamic offense, Holy Cross was able to capitalize on a significant number of injuries on Rummel’s side, especially on defense.

All three backs, Smith, Johnson, and Andoh ran for over 50 yards with one touchdown.

The Raiders had several bright spots. Buggage Jr. ended the night with 212 all-purpose yards and one touchdown pass. Martin rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns. Ramirez Jr. had 170 receiving yards with one touchdown.

Holy Cross’s Nicholas DiGerolamo came up with a sack for a loss of two yards, and Trent Santos made an interception.

The Tigers (4-0) will go on to play John Curtis in a battle of unbeatens on Saturday, September 30, while the Raiders (1-3) will play out of district versus Scotlandville next Friday.

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TEAM STATS
Holy Cross:
– 252 passing yards
– 255 rushing yards

Rummel
– 188 passing yards
– 197 rushing yards

SCORING
Quarter: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th – Total
Holy Cross 14 14 7 14 – 49
Rummel 0 7 14 7 – 28