ROCKETS SOAR PAST BERNARDIANS
Auburn picks up victory over St. Bernard’s
The St. Bernard’s football team was hoping a little home cooking could get them back on track Friday night.
Unfortunately for St. B’s, that’s not how things played out as visiting Auburn invaded the Bernardian Bowl and came away with a 26-12 victory under the lights.
Auburn improves to 2-2-1 while the Bernardians fall to 1- 4.
“We are dealing with some injuries right now, we are pretty banged up and we had several younger players see their first snaps tonight against a pretty good Auburn team,” said St. Bernard’s head coach Tom Bingham. “I am insanely proud of where our effort was with these kids tonight.” Auburn drew first blood. After forcing a St. Bernard’s punt on the game’s opening possession, the Rockets went 80 yards on 10 plays. Auburn’s Brayden Belanger ran it in from nine yards out. The conversion run failed to keep it a 6- 0 score.
The hosts answered the next time they touched the football. A 12-play, 60-yard drive ended with a one-yard quarterback keeper into the end zone by Salvi Bilotta to knot the score at 6 early in the second quarter.
A scary moment for the Bernardians came on their first scoring drive when junior Jameson Williams went down with a lower body injury and was eventually taken away by ambulance.
Auburn took a 12- 6 lead into halftime on a one-yard touchdown plunge by Belanger early in the second quarter.
The Rockets added two touchdown runs in the fourth quarter as Belanger powered his way across the goal line from 24 yards out and Nathan Cook followed with a five-yard pay dirt run to make it 26- 6.
The Bernardians went out fighting on their final possession of the night. Sophomore quarterback Chase Courtemanche capped a 10-play, 68yard drive with a touchdown run from two yards out to conclude the scoring.
“We had some great stops on defense. The effort and the kids that stepped up and got some real quality snaps was great to see,” said Bingham. “Chase is a sophomore. Salvatore has done a great job and Chase is right there with him. He brings a lot to the table. They both bring different qualities to the table and we felt that in the second half tonight, this was an opportunity for him, a game like this was right up his alley. He did a great job.”
Both teams return to action next Friday. The Bernardians host Sutton, while Auburn travels to Worcester Tech.