Football: FGR drops first game of the season, 28-24 (WLAA photogallery)
The Father Gabriel Richard football team dropped its first game of the season on Friday afternoon, 28-24, to visiting Detroit Loyola. The Fighting Irish fall to 3-1 on the season with Whitmore Lake coming up on Friday.
The Irish fell behind 8-0 to the visiting Bulldogs but got the offense rolling in the second quarter. QB Greg Kendzicky threw a 15-yard TD pass in the corner of the end zone to Brandon Victor to get the Irish on the board. The senior QB tossed a perfect ball over the outstretched arms of the Loyola defender and into the arms of his senior receiver who was able to stay in bounds.
The Irish missed the extra point but the lead was cut to 14-6 with 7:04 left in the first half.
A nice pass from Kendzicky, rolling out to his right, to Matthew Montgomery moved the ball to the Loyola 23-yard line. Senior Alejandro Rollan nailed a 42-yard field goal – right down the middle –to cut the lead to 14-9 just before halftime.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs scored to take a 20-9 lead.
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The Irish put together a nice drive on offense. Kendzicky found Victor open in the flat and the senior made a few moves, forced a few missed tackles and dragged a few Bulldogs all the way to the Loyola 43-yard line. Jack Smith then ran 14 yards to the Loyola 30-yard line – also breaking a few tackles and running over a few Bulldogs in the process.
FGR scored and then tacked on the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 20-17 in the third quarter.
The Irish took their first lead of the game on a 59-yard TD pass from Kendzicky to tight end Paul Hehmann down the far sideline. Kendzicky threw a perfect ball to a wide open Hehmann, who caught the ball at the 40-yard line and then out ran three Loyola defenders to the end zone for the score.
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FGR led 24-20 with 4:59 left in the third quarter.
But the Bulldogs answered to take a 28-24 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Irish got the ball to the Loyola 26-yard line on a nice pass to Victor but the Bulldogs held on for the win.
Kendzicky finished with 230 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception. Victor had three catches for 135 yards and a score. Hehmann had two catches for 66 yards and a TD.
Grant Wing and Jack Smith each had four tackles to lead the defense. Luke Madden had three tackles.
Richard finished with 369 total yards with 230 in the air and 139 on the ground. Loyola had 322 total yards of offense.
The Irish play at Whitmore Lake at 7 p.m. on Friday. After dropping their opener Royal Oak Shrine, the Trojans have won three straight including a 64-3 win on Friday over Sterling Heights Parkway Christian.
Whitmore Lake’s three wins have come against teams with a combined 0-12 record.
