HOLY FAMILY

fight despite falling behind early and having to play catch-up the entire game.

Roosevelt scored on every possession it had except for its opening drive, which ended with a tipped pass being intercepted by Holy Family’s Dominic Gabriel, its drive just before halftime when the clock ran out and their last of the game when the Roughriders ran out the clock.

Down 14-0 as the second quarter began, the Tigers benefitted from their best field position of the game to score their first points. Cooney hooked up with Stevens for a 28-yard touchdown to cut the Roosevelt lead to 14-7.

Cooney passed for 278 yards with 153 of those going to Stevens.

Roosevelt scored two touchdowns in a row on a short run and then an interception return to go ahead 29-7 before Lawver scored his first of three touchdowns with 1:37 left in the first half to make it 29-13.

“We came into this game knowing they were a tough undefeated team,” Lawver said. “We knew the odds were against us, but we prepared all season for a rematch against them and came into this game thinking it was just another game. We prepared for this. We just got outfought.

“I felt like we battled the whole game. I felt like our heart was in it the entire time. We just got outplayed.”

Lawver, who had never played running back before this season, carried the ball 23 times for a tough 56 yards and caught three passes for 28 yards.

Roosevelt had the ball first in the second half and used over seven and a half minutes to add to its lead. A short run made it 36-13.

From there, the teams traded touchdowns. Lawver scored a pair of second-half touchdowns on runs of 3 and 4 yards.

Holy Family’s last touchdown came on a 5-yard pass from Cooney to senior Matt Mccarthy with 3:31 left in the game.

“Both our offense and our defense are completely new teams since the last time we played them,” Lawver said. “We’ve installed countless new plays to prepare for them. We’ve been waiting for this rematch and we just got outplayed.

“I am going to miss making memories with all these guys.”

Roosevelt (12-0) advances to the semifinals where it will face Mead.