WESTWOOD — In a tale of two halves, Xaverian’s defense got the last laugh.
After a Xaverian fumble gave Central Catholic a chance to tie the score, Dave Chiavegato came through with an interception near the goal line to preserve the Hawks’ 28-20 win over the Raiders on Friday night at the Hawk Bowl.
Will Wood threw for a pair of touchdowns for Xaverian, while senior running back Vincent Busa rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
“I told our kids earlier you are all good young men but some of you are going to become a man tonight. All 11 guys on defense became a man on that final drive,” Xaverian coach Al Fornaro said. “Sometimes you have to win a game twice.”
The first half featured an offensive shootout with both sides going up and down the field to the tune of a 21-17 Xaverian lead. The Raiders crept closer to begin the third quarter with Drew O’Keefe knocking home a 35-yard field goal to make it 21-20.
Central Catholic (2-3) had a chance to go ahead on its ensuing drive, but Luke Bell recovered a Raiders fumble to keep the hosts in front. After both sides came through with a pair of stops, the Hawks gained separation.
Xaverian (3-1) began the fourth quarter with a 10-play, 79-yard drive highlighted by a 29-yard run by Busa down to the eight-yard line. One play later, Wood rolled out and found Will Benting for an eight-yard score to put Xaverian on top 28-20 with 6:43 left.
The Raiders got down to the Hawks 31, but were stuffed on a fourth and short, seemingly ending the game with 1:47 to play. Central Catholic, however, recovered a fumble on Xaverian’s first attempt to drain the clock, giving itself a second life. The Hawks defense refused to budge, forcing a pair of incompletions before Chiavegato hauled in the game-sealing interception.
“We made two minor adjustments at the half defensively,” Fornaro said. “I thought we did a pretty good job against their run game. We were able to contain them and put our hands on their quarterback (Caden Smith).”
Christian McIntyre got the scoring started by corralling a perfectly thrown, 41-yard strike from Wood to put Xaverian up 7-0. It did not take long for the Raiders to answer as Connor Grella won a tip-drill before taking it the distance 72 yards to tie the game at 7.
Xaverian seemed poised to go into the half with breathing room when a Busa four-yard touchdown run put them up 21-10, but the Raiders executed a fake punt to perfection to set up a four-yard touchdown run by Caden Smith to trim the deficit to 21-17 just before the half.
