On Friday, Oct. 28, the JC student section jumped up and down on the bleachers as the football team entered into an overtime match with St. Mary’s. JC took the lead and the student section, holding their breath, waited for St. Marys’ possession to end. When St. Mary’s failed to score, the entire student section, the majority of which waited until the end of the game, rushed onto the field as the football team was victorious in their Homecoming game against St. Mary’s 31-24.

The first quarter of the game was uneventful, as neither team had a scoring drive. In the start of the second quarter, JC took the lead when junior Montell Martin received a 24-yard pass from junior Brandon Lewis. St. Mary’s quickly came back when a simple pitch-and-catch turned into a 70-yard
touchdown pass. JC left the score 7-6 at the end of the first half when the St. Mary’s extra point kick was blocked.

In the start of the third quarter, Martin ran to the end zone for 43 yards and junior Alex Gambrell kicked the extra point. St. Mary’s tied the game up, however, when the team drove all the way to the 3-yard line during their possession and scored on a short run. The St. Mary’s successful two-point conversion pass caused the 14-14 tie.

The fourth quarter started off with St. Mary pushing ahead with a 24-yard field goal kick. JC immediately retaliated when junior Austin Markley received the kick off and returned the ball for 70 yards to score. Again, St. Mary’s scored when their halfback ran the ball for 26 yards. Losing 21-24, JC had one final opportunity to score.

“Whenever we were losing, we focused on the next play,” senior and captain Jon Galarraga said. With seven seconds left in regulation, junior Alex Gambrell kicked the tying field goal, making the score 24-24.

The game went into overtime and each team was given the opportunity to score with four downs from the 10-yard line. On the first down of JC’s possession, Martin scored the game winning touchdown. The JC defense held off St. Mary’s for their four down opportunity and, ultimately, the rest of the game. JC had five interceptions, three of which by junior Walter Roche, plus 255 rushing yards.

“We played as a team and played our hearts out on Friday.  It was the most memorable game in JC history for me,” Galarraga said.

Additional reporting by Miranda Ripken

Megan Battaglia is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.