Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410110074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This fall, the Celtics don't dwell on other years. That's probably best. Catholic hasn't had a winning football season since 1968.
But Saturday at Victory Stadium, the Celtics showed how different they are from past Catholic teams by crushing Fishburne Military Academy 34-6 in a Virginia Independent Conference game.
The Celtics (5-0 overall, 1-0 VIC), ranked No.1 in the Division 1 state private school poll, left a lot of impressive statistics for the voters this week. They also atoned for a 35-6 drubbing they took last year at Fishburne.
So what's different about this team, which has many of the same players as last year's squad?
``We have a different attitude,'' said Roanoke Catholic quarterback Tony Joyce. ``We want to win more this year than last year. We're taking a whole different approach than last year, though the personnel is basically the same.''
``After we saw that score, we had to work in practice,'' said Catholic running back P.J. Moyer, who rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns. Joyce added a touchdown on the day's longest run - 41 yards - while Cameron Blount, in his only carry, scored from 27 yards.
As impressive as the Celtics' offense was, their defense was amazing against a team that had scored at will the last couple of games.
Rod Tasco, a 200-pound junior, and senior linebacker Kendall Selfe combined for 29 stops. All this prevented FMA (2-1, 1-1) from getting a first down in the second half.
``They just kept running at us with no lead blocker, so we smashed them,'' said Selfe.
Catholic coach John Cooke said he knew that Fishburne's last opponent, Massanutten Military, had played without some key players due to suspensions.
``I was honest and told them about the players being out. Still, I saw Fishburne run plays to perfection and the big thing is that they ate Massanutten up on punt returns. So we changed our punt returns and put two split ends in,'' said Cooke.
It was a good idea, but no one will know if it worked because Catholic never had to punt.
The Celtics should have scored on the opening drive, but Joyce was intercepted on fourth down from the FMA 28.
Two plays later, Selfe recovered a fumble on the Caissons' 40. This time, Catholic wasn't to be denied. Moyer scored from the 5.
Catholic stopped FMA, and after the punt, Joyce went 41 yards for a 14-0 Celtic lead.
``I was cutting back and forth. I saw where they were. Luckily, they had some poor tackling and I just got in the end zone,'' said Joyce.
Fishburne responded with its only scoring drive, a 69-yard march helped along by a Catholic penalty. FMA got four of its six first downs during the drive, which was capped by fullback Daron Wilson's 3-yard run.
Catholic, though, built a 21-6 lead before halftime on Blount's TD scamper with 2:40 left in the second quarter. Moyer dominated the second half with touchdown runs of 35 and 17 yards. Moyer's first score came despite a teammate's missed block.
``I always go on my blocker's hip and I saw their man go outside, so I cut inside,'' said Moyer.
by CNB