Heritage falls at hands of St. Pius
An excellent 8-3 season came to an end for the Heritage Generals on Friday night as St. Pius X rolled into Boynton and pulled away in the second half for a 42-14 victory in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Golden Lions would use two short runs of 4 and 5 yards by Cameron Wingo in the final four minutes of the half to take a 14-0 lead. But Nick Hanson would find Logan Lowe for a 48-yard scoring strike on the final play of the first half as the Generals pulled back to within seven points of the lead at intermission.
However, St. Pius’ patented triple-option offense would make it presence known in the second half.
They would open the third quarter on a long drive before quarterback Dennis O’shea found Wingo on a 29-yard catch-and-run to add to the lead. Then, after a three-andout by the Generals, St. Pius would go back to work. This time it was Mason Benefield scoring on a 1-yard run to boost the lead to 28-7 in the waning seconds of the period.
The Golden Lions would tack on two more touchdowns in the final quarter, One on a 15-yard pass from O’shea to Nick Joiner and a second on a 1-yard plunge by Sam Dowder. Those two scores were sandwiched around a 37yard touchdown toss from Hanson to Sam Randolph midway through the period. Anderson Britton would connect on both of his extra point tries on the night.
Downer had nine carries for a team-high 117 yards as St. Pius finished with 424 yards of offense on the night, 366 coming on 56 rushing attempts.
Hanson went 17-of-30 for 198 yards to close out the season. Lowe caught four passes for 78 yards, but the Generals were limited to just 21 rushing yards on 11 carries.
St. Pius (6-5) will head to Woodward Academy on Friday to face the War Eagles in a second round matchup.