Nativity drops opener

Written by: Kenny Rossi on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014. Follow Kenny Rossi on Twitter.

After a long 2 hour bus ride the Green Wave entered Stadium Field looking to start the season on a high note. Sadly that didn’t happen the Green Wave struggled to stop the run as they fell to New Hope Solebury 45-21.

The first quarter was relatively quiet until the Lions found the board late in the first quarter on an 8 yard Franco Mannino run. Mannino found the end zone again early in the second quarter this time on a 5 yard run. Nativity finally found the board when Senior quarterback Dominic Piccioni fired a 32 yard touchdown pass to Jeff Yordy. This connection would be used all night as Yordy caught 7 of the 11 passes completed.

Later in the second quarter Lion’s wide out Steven Rattigan hauled in a 59 yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Nick Garritano to give the Lions a 21-7 advantage. Nativity would respond as Piccioni found his favorite target Yordy on a 16 yard touchdown pass to make it 21-14. The Lions scored on their last two possessions of the half both on Brendan Shadle runs of a 12 yards and 60 yards. The Lions 26 point second quarter propelled them to a 33-14 halftime advantage.

The Lions would add to their lead midway through the third quarter on another Brendan Shadle touchdown run, this time from 5 yards away. Shadle a sophomore carried the ball 15 times for 209 yards and 3 touchdowns. As a team the Lions rushed for 298 yards ripping big runs off left and right.

Early in the fourth quarter the Lions tacked on another score, this time Russell Abernethy found Pater from 30 yards out. This score pushed the Lions lead to 45-14. The Green Wave did not quit however they drove down the field on their last offensive series and once more Piccioni found Yordy this 12 yard touchdown pass gave Yordy his third touchdown grab of the game. Yordy a senior playing in his first high school football game hauled in 7 receptions for 135 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Piccioni also a senior playing in his first ever high school football game ended the game 11-30 with 194 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also added 18 rushing yards. Piccioni talked about improvements that need to be made after the game “We can improve on our game preparation and setting up the run game better.”

Yordy also talked about improvements after the game “We just have to play better defense, the offensive production was there but we gave up too many points to be successful.”

Next week the Green Wave come home to face Jenkintown. The Drakes also fell in their season opener to Calvary Christian 20-14. Both teams will be looking for their first wins next Friday when they walk into Veterans Memorial stadium.

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