FAYETTEVILLE — Seeking a win over a team it has had trouble beating in recent years, Fayetteville finally got the hardware for one night.

And senior Brian Trofy had a big hand in the Pirates earning bragging rights by virtue of a 45-28 conquest of Parkersburg Catholic in a battle of Class A co-No. 9 teams at Fletcher Arritt Memorial Stadium.

After starting the Pirates on their way to a 28-21 halftime lead with a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the game’s first play, Trofy went to the defensive side for another big play later. With the score tied at 28-all and Catholic facing a fourth-and-3 from the FHS 19 late in the third period, Trofy registered a key interception when he stepped in front of a dump pass across the middle and returned it 47 yards to set up the eventual game-winning score, K.C. Dempsey’s 30-yard run at the 11:51 mark of the final frame.

“I wasn’t really thinking about much at all,” said Trofy, who also added a fumble recovery for the Pirate defense. “I knew they liked to throw to the tight end, and I read the quarterback’s eyes and got in front of it.

“We knew we could beat them. We made some adjustments at halftime, and our defense came out fired up in the second half and controlled them. This is a big win for us. It gives us some momentum going into Mount Hope (and helps the Pirates recover from their first loss last week, a 20-10 verdict to Man).”

“The defense settled down,” said his coach, David Moneypenny. “We may have made an adjustment or two at half, but these kids really wanted to win this football game.

“We were 0-3 against Catholic in the time I’ve been coaching (as head or assistant). It was our turn tonight.”

Following a high-scoring, entertaining first half, the Pirates kept the Crusaders at bay for most of the second half. Brad Wilson’s 8-yard run and the ensuing PAT kick by Gino DeMaio knotted the game at 28-28 with 8:04 to play, but Fayetteville stiffened from that point.

While the Pirate defense stepped up its play, the offense put 17 points on the scoreboard in the last quarter. After Dempsey’s go-ahead score, Fayetteville got solid defensive plays from Drew Weis and Chase Lafferty, among others, on the ensuing PC possession, which resulted in a punt.

Fayetteville’s next march was aided by a 27-yard run by Weis, coupled with a Crusader personal foul on the same play, and the Pirates got a 25-yard field goal from MichaelAngelo Hernandez to make it 38-28 with 5:32 to play. Hernandez set up that score by whipping a 14-yard pass across the middle to Dempsey on fourth-and-11 from the 25.

Then, Weis, who wound up with 119 yards, capped the outburst with a 7-yard TD run with just 1:10 to go.

“This was two good football teams,” said Parkersburg Catholic coach Danny Tennant. “We had a couple of injuries that hamstrung us offensively.

“But hats off to Fayetteville. They’re a nice football team.”

One of those injuries was to Jake Brunoni, who caught a 31-yard scoring toss from Jason Williams to get the Crusaders on the board for the first time. Brunoni was hurt later in the half and didn’t return to the contest.

Catholic was led by Tommy Brunoni, who rushed 23 times for 103 yards. Williams passed for 184 yards, including 107 and a score to Cole Cwynar.

Dempsey caught six passes for 107 yards and rushed for 62 more yards for the Pirates. He scored once on the ground and once through the air, and he registered an interception for the FHS defense.

Hernandez was 8-of-14 for 129 yards.

Fayetteville (6-1) faces a huge matchup at home next Friday against No. 3 Mount Hope, which remained unbeaten with a romp over Valley Friday.

— E-mail:

skeenan@register-herald.com



Fayetteville 45, Parkersburg Catholic 28

PC (4-2) 7 14 7 0 — 28

F (6-1) 7 21 0 17 — 45

First Quarter

F: Brian Trofy 75 kick return (MichaelAngelo Hernandez kick), 11:43

PC: Jake Brunoni 31 pass from Jason Williams (Gino DeMaio kick), 2:34

Second Quarter

F: Trofy 11 run (Hernandez kick), 11:25

PC: Williams 14 run (DeMaio kick), 10:26

F: Drew Weis 1 run (Hernandez kick), 4:51

PC: Cole Cwynar 44 pass from Williams (DeMaio kick), 1:50

F: K.C. Dempsey 21 pass from Hernandez (Hernandez kick), 1:22

Third Quarter

PC: Brad Wilson 8 run (DeMaio kick), 8:04

Fourth Quarter

F: Dempsey 30 run (Hernandez kick), 11:51

F: Hernandez 25 field goal, 5:32

F: Weis 7 run (Hernandez kick), 1:10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — PC: Tommy Brunoni 23-103, Williams 13-39-1, Wilson 2-12-1, Jake Brunoni 1-12, Sean Earley 1-5, Andrew Christy 1-3, David Garvin 1-1. F: Weis 23-119-2, Trofy 7-35-1, Hernandez 4-14, Caleb O’Neal 2-8, Dempsey 6-62-1.

PASSING — PC: Williams 13-26-2-184-2, Daniel Collie 0-1-0-0-0. F: Hernandez 8-14-0-127-1.

RECEIVING — PC: Cwynar 7-107-1, J. Brunoni 1-31-1, T. Brunoni 4-37, Zach Romine 1-9. F: Dempsey 6-107-1, Trofy 1-12, Weis 1-10 .

TURNOVERS — PC: Sean Rafferty (fr). F: Trofy (fr, int), Dempsey (int).