It isn’t often that you can point to one play turning a football game completely around, but that is what happened at Hanson Stadium on Friday night. Saint Patrick trailed Marian Catholic 13-10 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter and faced fourth down from their own 18-yard line when Mike Kotz went back to punt. Kotz’s punt sailed over the head of the Marian return man and bounced all the way to the Marian one-yard line, where the Shamrocks downed it. Kotz’s remarkable 81-yard punt lit a fire under the Shamrocks, who rallied to score the final 28 points of the game in a 38-13 victory. Saint Patrick is now 5-1 on the season, while Marian fell to 0-6

Saint Patrick dominated the game early, forcing three and outs on Marian’s first three possessions and driving deep into Spartan territory three times. Tom Barrett found Kotz over the middle for the Shamrocks first score, and Chris Gasiorek added a 30-yard field goal as Saint Patrick took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The Shamrocks ran up 111 yards of offense on 18 plays in those three drives.

Marian took control of the middle portion of the game, driving 72 yards on six plays and scoring their first touchdown on the first of two Derrick Middleton TD runs, this one a one-yard plunge. The Marian defense completely shut down the Shamrock offense on their next six drives, and Middleton’s second touchdown, this one on a 16-yard run, gave Marian a 13-10 lead.

Leading up to Kotz’s punt, Saint Patrick had gained only 12 yards on their previous 15 plays with five straight possessions that went three and out. Following Kotz’s punt the Shamrocks dominated the rest of the game outgaining Marian by 139 yards and holding the Spartans to negative yardage.

Shamrocks got great field position on their next possession, taking over at the Marian 24. Three Dan O’Donnell rushes later; the Shamrocks were back in front to stay at 17-13 as O’Donnell barreled in for the touchdown from one-yard out. Barrett hit Kotz for his second touchdown pass of the day from eight-yards out, then Brian Ruiz scored on a one-yard run to make it 31-13. Jack McKenna finished the scoring by picking off a Marian pass and returning it 83 yards for a touchdown on a beautiful broken field run.

Barrett finished the day 13 of 23 for 155 yards and two touchdowns. O’Donnell carried 10 times for 65 yards, while Kotz caught three passes for 21 yards and a pair of scores. Brandon Kreczmer was dominant defensively, tallying 14 tackles (seven solo) in the game.