You don’t often see a game like this one as the District 9-2A Pope John Paul II Jaguars prevailed over the visitors from Sarah T. Reed by a score of 20-0 in their 2008 version of Homecoming. 

The huge crowd, made up of numerous alumni, saw their Jaguars get bested in almost every statistical category except the most important one, the scoreboard. Reed rushed for 196 yards on 38 carries while PJP could only manage 38 yards on 33 attempts. Reed had 13 first downs while PJP could only muster nine. But the category that proved to be the difference in the game was in turnovers. Reed led that one too with five miscues. Four of them came via interceptions and one by way of the fumble. 

Things started going downhill for the District 11-3A Olympians early in the first period.  Quarterback Kewon Bullocks, who led all rushers with 96 yards on 16 carries, was only 2-of-14 through the air with four interceptions. He was intercepted by PJP’s Ryan Palmisano intercepted Bullocks, which thwarted a nice seven-play drive. 

Pope John Paul II'€™s Ross Macaluso (6) gets tackled by a Sarah T. Reed defender during Friday'€™s game held at Lester Latino Jaguar Field. (Photo by James Elorriaga)

PJP’s offense stalled giving Reed their second possession of the night, which would turn out to be their worst. 

Reed punter Quincy Jones kicked the ball straight up in the air over the line of scrimmage. What turned out to be a minus 10-yard punt bounced back behind where it had been snapped. 

PJP linebacker Tyler Martin had the presence of mind to pick it up and scamper 31 yards for a touchdown with 4:29 left in the first quarter. Jag kicker James Cousin was good on his PAT for the 7-0 lead. 

Probably the biggest highlight of the night for Reed came on a fake punt that netted 26 yards for Jones and a first down for the Olympians. But a tough Jag defensive stand spearheaded by Bobby Mayfield forced Reed to turn the ball over on downs. 

With only 5:21 left before halftime Reed drove down to the Jag 19-yardline. The stubborn Jag defense came up big again with another interception of a Bullocks’ pass this time by Cousin. 

The Jags pulled off some trickery of their own when Andrew Morse faked a punt and rambled for 17 yards and a first down.   

On the very next play, Hewitt connected with Tommy Gritten on a 28-yard scoring pass.  The Cousin PAT was good to take a 14-0 halftime lead. 

The third quarter saw the only scoring in the second half. The tally came on an end around play that worked to perfection. Gritten posted his second score of the night going in untouched from six yards out. Cousin missed on his PAT as the Jags led 20-0 with only 1:28 left in the quarter. 

With 6:13 left in the contest Bullocks served up his third interception of the night as Tyler Lusignan snagged the errant throw to set up the Jag offense on their own 20-yard line. 

PJP committed their only turnover of the night when Ross Macaluso fumbled and Reed’s Kerry Alphonse pounced on it. Moments later the Olympians returned the favor by fumbling the ball and losing it to the Jags’ Joel Price. 

Sarah Reed’s final turnover came with only 1:15 left in the contest. Bullocks lofted his forth interception of the game as Cousin came down with his second interception to close it out at 20-0. 

Macaluso was PJP’s leader on the ground with only 29 yards on eight carries.  Hewitt had a decent night in the air, hitting on 4-of-10 passes for 92 yards and one touchdown. 

Strangely enough the Olympians put up 204 yards of total offense to PJP’s 130 but still couldn’t score.

“Tonight it was our defense and special teams that got us this win,” said first-year coach Mark Jeanmard. “Our goal tonight was to keep them from getting the big plays. My hat is off to the Sarah Reed coaching staff. They have really improved since we played them last year.” 

The Jaguars move to 2-1 on the year while the Olympians fall to 0-3 and have yet to score in three straight games.