More from St. Francis' escape vs. St. Joe's

St. Francis kept giving St. Joe's hope Friday night and the Marauders nearly ended the Red Raiders' reign as champions in League AA of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association.

"We took nine penalties, most of them in the second half, and about seven of them gave St. Joe's first downs," said coach Jerry Smith after his Red Raiders had escaped with a 28-27 victory in the semifinals, just two weeks after a 36-7 win over the Marauders in a regular season game. "We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. You just can't do that at any level."

After Delano Fabor caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Luke Tasker, St. Francis went to intermission ahead, 28-7.

But St. Joe's scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, the last six on Nicholas Hall's 1-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds remaining. But then Kevin Schwartz, who had converted the first three PATs, misfired and after Adam Redden recovered the ensuing onside kick, all that was left for the Red Raiders was two kneeldowns.

"He slipped on turf, I think he planted wrong and the kick went right into the line," Smith said of Schwartz's attempt. "It had no chance at all."

The game was eerily similar to last season's playoff ouster for St. Joe's. The Marauders were defeated, 17-16, in the semifinals by Canisius -- in part due to a missed extra point.

"After halftime we floundered, they got fired up and got the momentum," Smith said. "We had three pass interference calls and you just can't make those kind of mistakes. They took advantage, so give them credit."

Especially to St. Joe's quarterback Matt Rosenhahn, who struggled in the regular season loss to St. Francis. He went 7 of 21 for 111 yards with two TDs and no interceptions and carried 16 times for 88 yards for the Marauders, who following two straight championship years finished their second consecutive 2-8 season on a five-game losing streak.

St. Francis (3-6), which is on a three-game winning streak, enjoyed a 347-258 edge in total offense and got a huge game from quarterback Fabor, who was 5 of 12 for 103 yards with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Redden, and carried 17 times for 140 yards and two scores.

Redden had two catches for 55 yards while Tasker and Luke Szymanski split a dozen tackles. Tasker carried six times for 37 yards and punted for a 33-yard average.

Next up for St. Francis is the winner of Saturday's Canisius (5-3) vs. Timon-St. Jude (5-4) game. Canisius defeated the Red Raiders, 22-12, on Oct. 11 to end a 10-game losing streak in the series, and St. Francis beat the Tigers, 28-7, on Oct. 31.

---Tom Borrelli