Nativity battles back, captures first win

Written by: Kenny Rossi on Saturday, September 13th, 2014. Follow Kenny Rossi on Twitter.

As the legendary Victory Bell chimed, the folks at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium knew just what happened. Nativity (1-2, 1-0) dominated the second half to pull away from their All American Conference foe Columbia Montour Vo-Tech (0-3, 0-1) 36-28. The win snaps a streak of two straight losses for the Green Wave. Senior Jeff Yordy talked about ringing the bell for the first time, “It honestly felt amazing and knowing we got the W, was an incredible feeling.”

The Rams found the board first as halfback Chris Zanolini pushed the ball into the end zone from nine yards away. A successful two-point conversion gave the rams an 8-0 lead after one quarter.

The Rams leaned heavily on their option attack as they ran the ball 47 times for a whopping 241 yards and four touchdowns. Senior Linebacker Aaron Davidson talked about the defense after the game, “Our defense was a little shaky in the beginning, but after some halftime adjustments the other team just couldn’t convert against us. We played hard nosed football the whole second half.”

Rams’ halfback Chris Zanolini found pay dirt once again early in the second quarter this time from 37 yards away. Once again a successful two-point conversion gave the rams a 16-0 lead. The Green Wave would not give in as the next offensive possession senior quarterback Dominic Piccioni scrambled four yards to find the end zone. A successful two-point conversion made the score 16-8.

The Rams halfback Chris Zanolini found the end zone for the third time midway through the second quarter to give the Rams a promising 22-8 lead. The Green Wave used some trickery late in the second quarter as Piccioni handed the ball to wide receiver Jeff Yordy, and he took it to the house from 51 yards away. This score gave the Green Wave momentum entering halftime but the Rams still had the lead 22-16.

The Green Wave would add two scores in the third quarter. The first on a 12-yard Dominic Piccioni scamper, which gave the Green wave a 23-22 advantage, their first of the night. Later in the quarter Piccioni found Yordy from three-yards out to give the Green Wave a 30-22 lead after three quarters.

The Rams did not give in however as tailback Nicholas Kocan found the end zone from six yards away, but a failed two-point conversion left Nativity with the lead 30-28. Dominic Piccioni found the end zone late in the fourth from nine yards out to close the door on the Rams’ chances to win and captured win number one, 36-28.

Piccioni talked about the keys to the game, “The o-line holding up great giving good protection and just really making the throws and the reads the best we could.” The Green Wave have a bye week next week.

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