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St. James beats BWSaints shut out Spartans, 23-0St. James running back Cory Russ eludes the tackle of the Bishop Walsh Spartan defender during the first half of their game Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium. Russ scored one touchdown in St. James’ 23-0 win.STEVE LUSETimes-News Staff WriterCUMBERLAND — The unbeaten St. James Saints had the perfect formula for winning on a muddy field Saturday afternoon at Bishop Walsh’s Spartan Stadium.The Saints controlled the ball on offense; their defense allowed only 40 yards in total offense; they only had one turnover, and they had a pair of long touchdown runs in the first half by their outstanding backfield tandem of Juwuane Sandridge and Cory Ross.That formula carried St. James to a 23-0 victory that makes the Saints 7-0. They haven’t lost in nine games since dropping a 17-16 decision to Bishop Walsh last year in Hagerstown.Bishop Walsh slips to 2-6 after losing for the fourth straight week. The six teams who have beaten the Spartans have a combined record of 44-5.“We just played a great game,” said St. James coach Chick Meehan. “It was a wet field and a tough day to run. We got those two big runs in the first half and they had trouble running the ball. We had a great defensive game.”The St. James offense gained 230 yards and had the ball for 30 minutes and 16 seconds, compared to 17 minutes and 44 seconds for Bishop Walsh.Ross accounted for 110 of the Saints’ 210 yards on the ground on 17 carries and scored the second touchdown on a 60-yard gallop. Sandridge gained 75 yards on 12 attempts and rambled 47 yards for the first touchdown.“Cory (Ross) is a threat to score anytime he touches the ball and you really didn’t get to see all he can do today because of the field,” said Meehan. “Juwuane (Sandridge) is just a big fullbackwho can run over people. It’s tough to stop both of them.Defensively the Saints allowed only two first downs and one of those came on a penalty. They put two points on the board with a safety and also had a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery.With the extremely muddy field making it hard to get footing, it looked like it was going to be a defensive struggle as neither team could move the ball in the early action.But on St. James’ second possession the Saints got the game’s initial first down on a 14-yard pass from Mel Keyes to Cumberland’s Jamie Garner.Sandbridge, a 6-1, 244-pound junior, then went right up the middle for 47 yards for the touchdown with 4:35 left in the first quarter. Evan Boyst kicked the first of his three extra points.Bishop Walsh made its deepest penetration into St. James territory early in the second quarter when they got to the Saints’ 34-yard line with the aid of a rough-mg-the-kicker penalty. But the Spartans stalled there after three straight incomplete passes.With time running out in the half, Bishop Walsh got its only rushing first down on a 17-yard run by Danny Harper to the St. James’ 39. But one play later the Spartans turned the ball over with a fumble that Jarrard Mitchell recovered at the Saints’ 40-yard line.On the next play Ross broke off tackle and raced 60 yards with just 59 seconds left in the half. Boyst’s kick made it 14-0.The Saints drove to the Bishop Walsh seven-yard line on their first possession of the second half, but a 29-yard field-goal attempt by Boyst was wide.Pinned at their own 10-yard lineearly in the fourth quarter, the Spartans set up an end-around pass play by Eric Bonner. But Chris Colbert quickly sniffed it out and nailed Bonner for the safety with 8:48 left in the game.Alex Brousard picked off a John Beem pass and returned the ball 10 yards for the final St. James touchdown with 3:04 left in the game.“In the second half we wanted to work the clock and not do anything fancy. And that’s what we did,” said Meehan.Meehan singled out his line-backing corps of Sandridge, Broussard, Maury Ashbury, and Blake Harper of Cumberland asbeing the key to the St. Jame’s defense.“We blew a few good opportunities,” said BW coach Kevin Whiteman. “Anytime it looked like we had a chance to do something we shot ourselves in the foot and screwed up. Defensively I thought we played decent, but they had those big plavs that killed us. We came out flat and stayed that way.”Todd Logan had 15 tackles for the Spartans, while Mike Rabideau had eight and Jems Wilson 10. Keith Pryor recovered a fumble.Bishop Walsh hosts Hampshire next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.Mark Simons/Times-News
Newspaper Details
Cumberland Sunday Times News
Cumberland, Maryland, US
Sun, Oct 22, 1995
Page 12
Full Page
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MD, USA 28 Dec 2024
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