“Who’s gonna carry the boats and the logs?”
This quote has been the rallying cry for the St. Joseph Catholic School football team all season. And on Friday night, even when things were at their toughest, the Fighting Irish never lost their spirit as used this cry to come back from an early 19-point deficit to defeat Canton Academy 28-27 and advance to play in yet another MAIS State Championship game.
The Fighting Irish, the title defenders, will have a chance to win their fifth state championship in seven years next Friday night when they take on Kirk Academy in the MAIS Class 3A State Championship game at Jackson Academy.
Fighting Irish senior Greg Fore, a team leader, explained that the “boats and the logs” quote comes from former Navy Seal David Goggins who once had to transport boats over long distances and hold them up for hours. The Fighting Irish (7-5) even brought a rowing oar to the game, passing it around for inspiration.
“You have to carry the logs to the mountaintop, and we have almost reached it,” Fore said.
After falling behind 19-0 in the first half, the Irish came to life in the second quarter and they would prove themselves the more physical team the rest of the game.
The Fighting Irish’s first scoring drive was led by the powerful runs by junior Quay Nash who used his bulky frame on four consecutive runs to get his offense into the redzone. Nash finished the drive with a 3-yard TD run.
St. Joseph junior Javion Bayers then took the helm on the Irish’s next drive as he used his speed to get outside and race for extra yards on seven carries. Nash would end the drive with his second touchdown run, from 2 yards out, to cut the Panther (7-4) lead to 19-12 at halftime.
“They call us the Fighting Irish for a reason, and we are going to keep fighting,” St. Joseph. “I wasn’t worried about it when we fell behind in the first half, because I know these kids, and they are going to fight.”
“We spent too much time in weight room not to be good up front. We told them at halftime that we were going to come out in the Power I and play smash mouth football.”
The St. Joseph offense, which got the ball to start the third quarter, kept the hammer down in the second half. The Irish ran the ball eight straight times on this drive which culminated in a 6-yard rushing touchdown by Chris Mayfield and a 2-point conversion by junior John Haggard.
The Irish scored their final touchdown in a similar fashion with two long runs by senior AJ Hill and an 18-yard touchdown rush by Bayers to put St. Joe up 28-19 with 3:02 in the third quarter.
The Panthers from Canton showed why they were also state semifinalist as they caught their second wind in the fourth quarter. Led by senior running back Chris Hunter, the Panthers marched down on their first drive in the fourth quarter and made it a 28-27 game when Hunter scored a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the St. Joseph lead to 28-27 with 11:05 left in the game. Hunter rushed for three touchdowns in the game, including a 45-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the game.
St. Joseph sophomore cornerback Ronnie Williams secured the win by intercepting two Canton passes in the fourth quarter. William’s second interception was caught on the St. Joseph 5-yard line after desperation pass with five second left in the game.
The Fighting Irish will enter this year’s state championship game without the sterling record that they have had in their previous four championships; however, four of their losses this season have come against teams from higher classifications in the MAIS.
“We played a meat grinder of a schedule but it made us tougher,” Coach Baker said. “We know what it takes to win a state title. We are going to trust in ourselves and believe in our system.”
