Football: AMCATS fall to Cardinals of Catholic University

WASHINGTON – In the presence of 6,409 Catholic University alums, friends of CUA, fans and football enthusiast, the Cards defeated Anna Maria 49-0 during the 2013 homecoming football game on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Cardinal Stadium.

On the ground Anna Maria was led by senior Robert Small who gained 77 yards on 19 carries and a pair of quarterbacks in Troy Faretra and Gregory McGoldrick. Faretra had 11 completions for 80 yards while McGoldrick was a precise 4-for-5 for 21 yards.

The quarterbacking duo found three different receivers, three different times. Manuel Suarez, Josh Sundquist and Chris Bettano each pulled-down three passes, Suarez's catches totaled 24 yards, while Sundquist hit the 24 yard mark and Bettano finished with 10 yards receiving.

Senior Jordan Koehler was the linchpin on defense, totaling 14 tackles (10 solo/8 assisted) on the afternoon. Koehler had two tackles for a loss and a fumble recovery in the loss.

CUA junior wide receiver Christian Baker opened the contest with a 16-yard touchdown from sophomore quarterback EJ Montgomery at the 13:02 mark, notching 68 yards in seven plays over the course of two minutes and seven seconds in the first quarter.  Peter Rosa, who was a perfect 7-of-7 on the kick, added the additional point for a score of 7-0.

Four minutes later, sophomore quarterback TJ Tutone and sophomore wide receiver Tim Murphy connected for the Cardinals second touchdown of the afternoon.  The 1:03 play consisted of Murphy's 43-yard touchdown pass, which took a mere four plays and 55 yards.

The final touchdown of the quarter came from Montgomery, who left the pocket and rushed for three yards to raise the Cardinals 20-0.  Rosa completed the play with a successful kick.

"Third time's the charm" was the theme of the second quarter, as Montgomery completed a 51-yard throw to senior running back standout Mike Pitsenberger for the top single-play yardage of the contest.  Prior to connecting with Pitsenberger, Montgomery attempted to connect with senior wide receiver Tanner Keefe and sophomore wide receiver Nikolas Echeverria.  The single play took 22 seconds to complete.

Tutone added to his rushing statistics with a 14-yard touchdown to close out the second quarter.

By the half, the Cardinals held the AMCATS to 35-0 deficit.

Extending the lead to 42-0, Montgomery completed a 19-yard pass to senior wide receiver Andrew Ouellette at the 10:16 mark of the third quarter.  Five minutes later, Tutone secured the victory with a two-yard into the end zone.  Rosa attained his final supplemental kick of the game for a score of 49-0.

In the homecoming event, well over half of the 2013 roster saw action, including freshmen quarterbacks Matt McMahon and Danny Collins.  Freshmen running back Brayden Massie, defensive back Larry Conroy, running back Bryan Black and sophomore defensive back Michael Weldon saw some gridiron action.

Individually, senior running back Nick Cortese rushed for a team-high 107 yards with long 42-yard run.  Montgomery went 12-of-16 with 220 yards and three touchdowns, including his game-high 51 yard throw.  Ouellette led the receivers with six catches and a total 79 yards.  Inside linebacker Ralph Martello finished with a monumental 12 tackles, seven of which were unassisted.

Anna Maria heads into ECFC conference play next weekend when they travel to Maritime College (NY). Kick-off is slated for 2:00pm.