St. Paul's defense stingy again

St. Paul’s Wolves remained unbeaten at 3-0 Friday, rolling past the Grace King Fighting Irish, 49-3, at Hunter Stadium. St. Paul’s raced out to a 28-3 halftime lead.

Wolves’ head coach Ken Sears said his club played well defensively once again. “We shut down their running game,” he said.

Despite putting up 49 points and gaining 418 yards of total offense in a lopsided victory, Sears was disappointed with his offense’s performance. St. Paul’s had seven fumbles, losing four of them. On top of that stat, the Wolves were flagged for 13 penalties, primarily holding calls.

“It’s obviously good to be 3-0, but without a doubt, we have to clean up our errors on offense. We can’t afford to make that many mistakes when our tough district season rolls around,” Sears said.

The Wolves open up district play Friday night, hosting the Mandeville Skippers (2-0), who are coming off a 35-0 victory against the Walker Wildcats.

St. Paul’s senior quarterback Ricky Wendel hit on nine-of-13 passes for 128 yards, while backup Alec Duncan was perfect on three passes for 70 yards.

Senior fullback Josh Pereira rushed for 66 yards on eight carries, scoring two touchdowns on short runs.

Wolves’ defensive coordinator Lee Pierre said he is excited about the continued consistent play of his defense. St. Paul’s recorded 21 tackles for losses, led by sophomore defensive tackle Mickey Johnson, who recorded four tackles for negative yardage.

He had two solo stops and one assist. Junior defensive end Houston Bates posted three individual tackles, one assist, two tackles for losses and one sack.

Bates caused a second-quarter fumble, which was recovered by Jason Greenleaf, who returned the ball 4 yards for a score.

For Bates, it was the second time he caused a fumble that was returned for a score.

Senior defensive back Greg Blasiar came up with three solo tackles and one assist along with a tackle for a loss.

Jermaine Sams intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter, returning it 65 yards for an apparent touchdown, but the play was called back to a block in the back penalty.