One year after falling to the Saints in the season finale, the Dons got their chance at revenge against an undefeated Saints team. The Saints came into the game as the ninth ranked offense in the county with over 3000 total yards of offense.

A big help to that statistic was quarterback Joe Kennedy who came into the matchup with 27 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions. The Dons defense made the plays in this game though, forcing Kennedy to throw five interceptions in a 17-3 Dons’ victory.

The game was a physical and defensive battle from the start tothe final whistle. On an early  Saints’ drive, Joe Kennedy was pressured by several Dons and threw an interception to senior linebacker Russell Reeder. Russell had a great game against the Saints, intercepting Kennedy two times.The first quarter ended without a score.

The player of the game for the Saints was certainly senior running back
Aaron Anderson, the only player on the Saints to make plays for the
team. Anderson was able to bowl over defenders and break tackles for 120
yards on the night.

Midway through the second quarter, the Saints got the first score of the
game when senior Seamus McMorrow kicked a 38 yard field goal to give the
Saints a 3-0 lead. The drive looked very promising for the Saints as they
were given a golden opportunity off of a roughing the passer penalty on the
Dons; however, the Saints were not able to capitalize and were forced to kick
the field goal.

The Dons couldn’t answer on their following possession, but on their final
drive of the first half, senior JJ Stavola made what would have been a game
changing run down to the Saints four yard line; however, a personal foul call
on the Dons brought the ball back to around midfield. The Dons were only
able to set up a field goal for Christian Fanning, who kicked it from 30
yards out to make it a 3-3 game going into halftime.

On the Saints’ first drive of the second half, Joe Kennedy was again under
pressure and again threw an interception to sophomore defensive linemen Kyle
Davis. The Dons ended up failing to convert on fourth down after the
turnover. The Dons had 6 takeaways against the Saints but only had 14 points
to show for them.

Later in the third quarter, Russell Redder got his second interception of
the night, and the Dons took the field determined to take the lead. After a
big 32 yard pass to senior tight end Andrew Pascale, the Dons converted a
fourth down but could still not put points on the board and were forced to
punt it away.

On the following possession of the Saints, Kennedy, again under pressure,
threw a pass that was tipped and intercepted this time by senior defensive
back Patrick Downing. Downing took the ball into the end zone, but the score
was called back with a block in the back penalty on the Dons.

The Dons were again determined to put the ball into the end zone and again
went for it on fourth down. They converted with a 23 yard pass to JJ Stavola
who took the ball inside the 5 yard line. A few plays later, sophomore
Xavier Ulutu took it from the 2 yard line to finally give the Dons a 10-3
lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, the ball was fumbled by the Saints and recovered by
the Dons inside Saints territory. The Dons were able to run the clock to
under two minutes before they lost a fumble themselves.

With less than two minutes left, the Saints were driving and looking to send
the game into overtime with a touchdown. Joe Kennedy dropped back to pass
and Dons were coming after him. Kennedy threw it deep and was intercepted
for the fifth and final time, this time by senior Alex Edwards-Johnson.
Johnson took this one 87 yards and into the endzone for the game sealing
touchdown to make it 17-3 Dons.

With the dramatic win, the Dons won the Eastern League title for the fifth
year in a row. The Dons also handed their rivals their first and only loss
on the year to give the Saint a final regular season record of 9-1 (4-1 in
league). The Dons will end the regular season with the same overall record
of 9-1, but will be a perfect 5-0 in league play.

The Dons will have a bye next week before starting the playoffs against a
tem to be determined.