The Saint Patrick Shamrocks opened the 2005 football season with a 49-8 thrashing of Saint Joseph. Tom Barrett completed 11 of 18 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns, and the Shamrock special teams scored twice, once on a botched snap and once on a blocked punt. The Shamrock defense was superb, holding Saint Viator to 54 yards of offense on 48 plays, including negative 45 rushing yards on 17 attempts.

The game started slowly for the Shamrocks. After stopping the Chargers on the game’s opening possession, Barrett had a pass deflect off of his intended receiver to a Saint Joseph defender at the Charger 12-yard line. The Shamrock defense forced another three and out, and the offense went to work. Saint Patrick would score on their next six possessions.

Dan O’Donnell got the scoring started with an 18-yard touchdown scamper. Matt Ledenbach then scored two touchdowns in 42 seconds. First Barrett hit Ledenbach for a 17-yard score, then, Ledenbach took a reverse 24-yards around right end for a touchdown to make it 21-0. Near the end of the first quarter, Saint Joseph botched the snap on a punt. Brian McGarigle scooped up the ball and ran to the Charger 12. McGarigle pitched the ball to Renzo Mejia as he was being tackled, and Mejia took it in for the touchdown. At the end of one quarter it was 28-0 Shamrocks.

Saint Patrick put together a pair of long scoring drives in the second quarter. Mike Kotz hauled in a three-yard pass from Barrett to finish a seven- play, 70-yard touchdown drive, and Brandon Kreczmer pulled in a three-yard Barrett pass to cap a 50-yard drive and make it 42-0 at halftime.

In their opening drive of the second half, the Chargers drove 53 yards for their lone score, a Jack Olson to Ryan Hardman 14-yard pass. Saint Patrick’s Mike Vivanco picked up a blocked punt, and returned it three yards for the game’s final touchdown.

Ledenbach finished with four receptions for 70 yards. O’Donnell rushed five times for 46 yards. Kreczmer led the charge for the Shamrocks defensively, recording seven tackles, including five tackles for loss, while Steve Donovan added three tackles.