After rough start, La Salle wins big against Carroll

Posted 9/19/16

La Salle’s sophomore running back Manny Quiles ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)[/caption] by Jonathan Vander Lugt For two quarters on Friday …

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After rough start, La Salle wins big against Carroll

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La Salle’s sophomore running back Manny Quiles ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt) La Salle’s sophomore running back Manny Quiles ran for 164 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt)[/caption]

by Jonathan Vander Lugt

For two quarters on Friday night, matters couldn’t have been worse for La Salle football.

After two quick, early scores, La Salle College High School let Archbishop Carroll High School sneak back into the game. Carroll QB Steve Honick tossed a pair of touchdown strikes, helped by three second-quarter interceptions from Explorer QB Tommy LaMorte.

The Patriots missed their first extra point and failed the two-point conversion on their next touchdown, but the message was clear: Archbishop Carroll came ready to play. Later, when LaMorte fumbled inside the Carroll 20 on La Salle’s last major drive, Greg Natale took the ball 85 yards to the house to give the Pats the lead.

The Explorers got the ball back, took a knee, and went into the half down 18-12 to Archbishop Carroll. Lead back Syaire Madden was on the sideline with a shoulder problem, and in addition to his fumble, LaMorte had thrown four interceptions throughout the half.

“At halftime, we just got together and said ‘That’s not what we do,’” LaMorte said. “We said that we’re going to stick to the fundamentals, and we just executed.”

Then, like that, the Explorers flipped a switch. Carroll didn’t score again, and sophomore running back Manny Quiles led the way in Madden’s stead, finishing with 164 yards and four touchdowns in what wound up being a 46-18 La Salle laugher.

“I’m proud of everybody, because we were sluggish and we didn’t look good at halftime,” said La Salle coach John Steinmetz. “But the kids came back and played hard in the second half.”

It didn’t take long for La Salle’s avalanche of scoring to fall. On the first play of the half, a 45-yard reverse by Troy Holland put the Explorers inside the Carroll 20, and four plays later, Mike Wells knocked in a 33-yard field goal. Then, Quiles got to work.

He took La Salle’s first play on its next drive for 50 yards to the house, followed by a 12-yard score in the next. Octavious Carter fumbled away the next La Salle drive, but no matter. On the one following, LaMorte found his groove, going 3-for-3 for 53 yards to set up Joey Burnham’s one-yard touchdown.

The quarter ended with a 25-point La Salle swing, and when Quiles gashed the Carroll defense early in the fourth for another score—this time from 34 out—the game’s outcome was clear.

Quiles did all of that work—164 yards, four touchdowns (he had one of La Salle’s first-quarter scores)—on just 17 carries.

“The line just did great,” Quiles said, not willing to take too much credit for his performance. “I found the holes and ran behind them.”

Nearly as important to the team’s success was LaMorte’s rebound. In the first half, the senior went 4-for-10 for 60 yards—while completing as many passes to Carroll’s defenders as he did his own receivers—before going 7-for-10 for 103 yards in the second half. The difference was night and day, and Steinmetz’s confidence never wavered.

“He was struggling there, so we helped slow the game down a little bit for him,” Steinmetz said.

“He said, ‘Look, I know you can do this,’” LaMorte said. “’Just relax, stick to what you do in practice, and you’ll be fine.’”

“It’s good,” LaMorte continued, referring to having a coach with that much confidence in his abilities, “because most people that have a first half the way I did will break down and crack under pressure, but he was there to support me.”

As for his backfield mate, Quiles’ performance figures to earn him some playing time in support of Madden, once healthy. A strict time-share seems unlikely, but if nothing else, Steinmetz and co. can have confidence that Quiles will ably spell Madden for a play or two.

“Manny was big—he came in when we needed him,” LaMorte said. “Now we have two running backs to rely on. They can split time and keep their legs fresh.”

Up next for La Salle is a date at Archbishop Ryan high school on Saturday, which figures to be as tough a test they’ve seen this season.

“We learned to never underestimate our opponents,” Quiles said, something they certainly can’t afford to do moving forward. “But I’m proud of the team for pulling it together.”

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