Bishop Foley overtakes Shrine in 42-20 win
Bishop Foley rides the turnover train to 42-20 win over Shrine
MADISON HEIGHTS » The Bishop Foley football team has an explosive enough offense that it’s tough to keep pace with equal possessions.
Turning the ball over to the Ventures seven times makes it nearly impossible.
Royal Oak Shrine couldn’t avoid the turnover bug on Friday night, allowing Foley to recover two onside kicks while throwing four interceptions and fumbling the ball over once. Those mistakes kept the Knights from keeping pace with Foley in a 4220 loss.
“You can’t win like that, period. We have to learn how important the football is,” Shrine coach Oscar Olejniczak said.
The Knights (0-3) were down to just 14 players at kickoff due to injuries, but were competitive for a good portion of the game despite the turnovers.
“The guys gave great effort. We are playing with 14 kids and have three starting offensive linemen out with injuries,” Olejniczak said. “Take nothing away from Bishop Foley. They have a great coaching staff there and they do a great job of utilizing their talent.”
It was a good start to the game for Shrine, as they recovered the Bishop Foley opening kickoff at midfield and drove 53 yards for the first score. Conor Benson got the touchdown on a 5-yard run to make it 7-0.
The Ventures would answer quickly, scoring two minutes later. Foley opened its possession with a double pass that scored from 68 yards out, but the play was called back on a penalty. No matter for Foley, who still marched down the field and got a 9-yard touchdown run from Jackson Zeiter to make it 7-7.
Foley would take its first lead at 14-7 late in the first when Angelo Costanza intercepted a Shrine pass at midfield and returned it 57 yards for a score. It was the fourth defensive touchdown for Foley through three games.
“Our defense has played really well all year,” Foley coach Brian Barnes said. “We like what we are doing there.”
The Ventures then recovered the ensuing kickoff and turned that into a 17-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Gough to Zeiter to go up 21-7.
Shrine would keep it close by scoring midway through the second when it got a short field and went 30 yards for a score. Ben
son connected with Andrew Bala for a 20-yard strike to make it 21-14.
“We have a couple of really good football players and you just have to spread the ball out and get them in space,” Olejniczak said. “Conor Benson and Chuck Niehaus are outstanding football players. I have some seniors that have really been working hard for us.”
Foley turned the tide of the game for good in the closing minutes of the opening half. They would score twice over the final 2:29.
The first score came on another TD pass from Gough to Zeiter, this time for 19 yards on a bubble screen.
Shrine would then fumble the kickoff return over to Foley, and Gough would get his third TD pass of the game on a 6-yard strike to Gus Toppi, putting the Ventures ahead 35-14.
Toppi would then intercept a Shrine pass on the first play of the next possession, giving Shrine a total of six turnovers in the opening half.
The third quarter would be scoreless, but Shrine would cut the lead to 35-20 with 9:55 to play when Niehaus scored on a physical 5-yard run.
Foley would answer the Knights’ score, however, as Zeiter broke through with his fourth touchdown of the game. This time it would come on a 19-yard run.
“He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he can fly and he’s really tough. The criticism I have heard about him from other coaches is he doesn’t get the tough yards. I’m sorry, but he’s been getting the tough yards for us all season,” Barnes said of Zeiter.
Zeiter nearly had a fifth touchdown, as he intercepted a pass on the next possession and returned it across the field for a score, but the touchdown was called back on an illegal block during the return.
With the victory, Bishop Foley moves to 3-0 for the fourth consecutive season. The Ventures now step into CHSL Intersectional 1 play next week when they visit Cranbrook for a Saturday afternoon kickoff at 1 p.m. Foley is a Division 7 program, while Cranbrook is Division 4.
“It’s going to be a challenge in the new division. We are doing good things right now, but we just have to take it one game at a time,” Barnes said. “We have some bigger schools in front of us and we just have to keep getting better to be ready for them.”
Shrine will look to grab its first win of the sea