On Saturday, October 26, the Seton Hall Prep Pirates hosted the St. Joseph Regional Green Knights at the Kelly Athletic Complex. It was a perfect day for football with sun and temperatures in the high 50s to go along with no wind. The Pirates came into the matchup red hot, with wins in their previous five games and a record of 6-1 on the season. Their opponents came into the game with a record of 5-2 and ranked second in the state. Following a prayer from Monsignor Kelly ’57 and the playing of the National Anthem, the Pirates were set to kick off to the Green Knights. On their first drive, the Green Knights’ running back Audric Estime put together a string of impressive runs that culminated in a Green Knight touchdown.

On the Pirates’ opening drive the Green Knights were able to shut down the Pirates’ offense led by quarterback Zander Zebrowski ’20 and force a punt. The first quarter was a defensive battle between both teams as the quarter ended with a score of 7-0. To start the second quarter, the Pirates were able to hold the Green Knights to just a field goal making the score 10-0 in favor of St. Joe’s. On the next drive, the Pirates were able to jump start their offense with a big throw by Zebrowski to Dominic Busby ’20 to put them close to field goal range, but the Green Knight’s defense was able to stop them again, forcing another punt. Although the Pirates’ offense was unable to gain momentum, the Pirates’ defense was able to force a huge fumble giving them excellent field position ultimately leading to a 5-yard touchdown pass to Busby and a score of 10-7.

However the Green Knights responded with a touchdown of their own coming from a 5-yard run from Audric Estime, his second on the day, increasing their lead back to 10. After a punt from the Pirates on their next drive, it was the defense that came up clutch again with an interception by Dominic Busby followed by his second receiving touchdown of the day coming from 16 yards out. At halftime the score was 17-14 with the Pirates trailing. The Pirates received the ball after halftime but were forced to punt and the Green Knight’s Audric Estime scored his third touchdown of the game, and the Pirates were down by 10 once again. On the Pirates’ next drive, a big catch by Nick Gullace ’20 led to a rushing touchdown by Matt Colantuono ’20. The Pirates cut the lead back down to 3. The third quarter ended with the Pirates trailing the state’s number 2 ranked team by only a field goal. At the start of the fourth quarter the Pirates’ defense was able to hold the Green Knight offense to just a field goal, and the Pirates were in a position to take the lead on the next drive, down 27-21. After multiple penalties, the Pirates found themselves in the red zone in a fourth down situation. The Pirates undoubtedly went for it. The ball was snapped and Zebrowski threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage to Colantuono who threw to the wide-open Jack Larsen ’21 for the touchdown. Following the extra point from Austin Kuterka ’21, the Pirates led the Green Knights 28-27.

With just five minutes to go, the Green Knights marched up the field into manageable field goal range, but a sack from Dominic Busby forced the Green Knights back to the 33-yard line and were faced with the choice to attempt the field goal or go for it on fourth down. They decided to go for it, but pressure from the Pirates forced the Green Knight’s quarterback to throw the ball, which ended up in the hands of Giye Jenkins ’21 of Seton Hall. The Pirates were able to kneel the ball and punt the ball to end the game, upsetting St. Joe’s by a score of 28-27. By a combination of great defense and offense, and great effort by all the players, the Seton Hall Prep Pirates were able to do the unthinkable and take down the number 2 team in the state and extend their record to 7-1.