Pope John Paul II’s Ross Macaluso threw a pair of touchdowns on halfback passes and ran for 97 yards as the Jaguars shutout Northlake Christian School, 24-0, in a game marred by numerous turnovers Friday.

Despite committing three fumbles and throwing one interception, the Jaguar defense rose to the challenge to keep the Wolverines from scoring.

But it was the three interceptions and one fumble by NCS that turned the game around as each one resulted in excellent field position for the Jags.

Conforto

Noticeably absent from the Jaguar backfield was starting quarterback Nathan Hewitt, who was out with an injury. Filling in admirably for PJP was Carlo Conforto. 

“My hat is off to Carlo (Conforto). He had a lot of pressure taking over for Nathan (Hewitt) and he did a heck of a job,” said first-year Jaguar coach Mark Jeanmard.

On the third play of the game PJP’s Ryan Palmisano picked off a pass by NCS quarterback Timmy Broussard to set the Jags up at midfield. But Ross Macaluso fumbled the ball on the first play from scrimmage, and Cory Weaver jumped on it for NCS.

Two possessions later, PJP lost the ball again when Connor Olivier fumbled into the arms of Cody Jones. After each team traded punts, the first quarter ended 0-0.

On their first possession of the second quarter the Jags marched 72 yards in nine plays to draw first blood. The big play of the drive came on a gadget play by the Jags. Macaluso hit Tommy Gritten with a halfback pass that covered 40 yards for the score. James Cousin booted the PAT for the 7-0 lead with 9:56 left in the half.

NCS seemed to wake up following the Pope John Paul score and mounted its best drive of the night down to the Jaguar 18-yard line. But Broussard was errant again with his pass, and Palmisano was there to make his second interception of the night.

The Jag drive didn’t last long as Cody Jones recovered another fumble by Macaluso, but there was only 26 seconds left in the first half as the score remained, 7-0.

On the first NCS possession of the second half, Broussard was picked off again, this time by Cousin. When the PJP drive stalled, Cousin showed his versatility by kicking a 23-yard field goal to extend the Jaguar lead to 10-0 at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter.

With the Jaguar defense completely shutting out the Wolverine offense, PJP had numerous opportunities to score. With only 11 seconds left in the third period Pope John Paul took advantage of one of those opportunities. Conforto hit Chris Jeansonne on a quick pass in the flat, and Jeansonne scampered 48 yards for a touchdown. The Cousin PAT was good to extend the PJP lead to 17-0.

The Jaguars committed their fourth turnover of the game when punter Andrew Morse faked a punt and attempted a pass. The pass was intercepted by Kyle Mitchell to stop PJP’s drive.

The next series saw Broussard fumble the ball, giving the Jaguars another shot at the end zone, this time from 12 yards out. Morse redeemed himself by picking up the fumble. 

Four plays later, PJP ended the scoring as Macaluso hit Gritten on another halfback pass, this time from 12 yards out. Cousin was true again as his successful PAT made the final score, 24-0.

The stout Jag defense held the Wolverines to only 129 total yards. Broussard threw for 83 yards and threw three interceptions. The NCS running attack was almost non-existent, rushing for only 46 yards on 21 carries.

For PJP, Conforto was 2-of-3 passing for 53 yards and one touchdown. The Jags put up 255 yards of total offense.

Despite the score, the Wolverines had some outstanding defensive plays. Leading the way was Shawn Burst, who was seemingly all over the field for NCS. 

Defensive leaders for PJP were Tyler Bolner, Bobby Mayfield, Cory Davis, Tyler Lusignan and Palmisano.

Jeanmard summed it up by saying, “Our defense set the table for the offense tonight, and our offensive line was up to the challenge. We had a fine team effort tonight.”

Next up for both teams are their respective district openers. The 3-1 Jags open the District 9-2A campaign at home against the Pine Raiders, while the 1-3 Wolverines travel to take on District 7-1A foe Christian Life Academy.