Strange things are supposed to happen beneath a full moon, and that was definitely the case last Friday at Hanson Stadium. In a game that featured a touchdown pass to the quarterback, an onside kick returned for a touchdown, a botched snap on an extra point turned into a two-point run for the kicker, 84 points, and nearly 900 yards of offense the Saint Patrick Shamrocks moved to 3-1, pulling out a wild 49-35 victory over Benet Academy.

Saint Patrick jumped out to an early lead, opening the scoring on a reverse pass from Kyle Dietz to quarterback Tom Barrett for a 30-yard touchdown down the right sideline. Benet answered with a three-play 78-yard drive, capped off by Mike Liwanag’s 22-yard touchdown run to make it 7-6 Redwings. Barrett drove the Shamrocks 69 yards in five plays to recapture the lead, hooking up with Paul Lombardi for the first of three touchdowns, this one a 14-yarder as Lombardi cut in to take a short pass from Barrett, and ran right through the heart of the Benet defense for the score. The Shamrocks got the two-point conversion to make it 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Following a Jeff Costa interception, the Shamrock offense went back to work, this time driving 52 yards in six plays, with Barrett hitting Lombardi from six yards out for the score to make it 21-7 in favor of Saint Patrick. Benet came right back with an 80-yard drive and a Bob Brown TD run. Kicker Brendan Hannigan ran in a botched snap for the two-point conversion, and the Shamrock lead was down to six at 21-15.

With 21 seconds remaining in the half, Jack McKenna intercepted a Benet pass, and returned it to the Saint Patrick 44. On the next play, Barrett hit Matt Ledenbach streaking over the middle for a 56-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion made it 29-15 with eight seconds left in the half. Benet’s Matt Kleifgas took the ensuing kickoff up the left sideline, and seemed destined for the Shamrock end zone until Mark Vivanco pushed him out at the five-yard line to end the half.

Things settled down in the third quarter with each team scoring once. Adrian Mendoza gave the Shamrocks a 36-15 lead with a two-yard touchdown plunge, and Liwanag’s second score of the game made it 36-22 at the end of three quarters.

With 4:14 remaining in the game, Barrett hit Lombardi down the right side for a 27-yard touchdown to seemingly put the game away at 42-22. Two plays later, Brown broke off a 70-yard touchdown run to get Benet back within two scores with just under three minutes remaining. Needing the ball back, the Redwings attempted an onside kick. Mike Kotz picked up the bouncing ball and raced 47 yards up the right sideline for the score to make it 49-29. Benet’s Scotty Johnson caught an 18-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game to make the final score 49-35 in favor of the Shamrocks.

Several Shamrocks had career days statistically. Barrett finished the game 14 of 17 for 296 yards and four touchdowns. Dan O’Donnell topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time, carrying 14 times for 118 yards. Two Shamrock receivers topped the century mark as Lombardi had six catches for 114 yards and Ledenbach caught four balls for 138 yards. The Shamrock offense rolled up 467 yards of total offense (141 rushing, 326 passing) and 18 first downs on 43 plays from scrimmage.