Photo by Keller Bryant ’30
On Friday, Oct. 23, St. Paul’s varsity football fell to Severn 21-14 under the lights at 7 p.m., and varsity soccer lost 1-0 to rival Boys’ Latin in a 4 p.m. away game. Both games were close and resulted in a one score game.
At Boys’ Latin the soccer team fought hard in a defensive battle. Through the first half it was tied 0-0 with many good defensive plays from players like Jonah Spitalnick ’27, Henry Evans ’27, and Blake Levesque ’27. Finn Lake Goldstein ’27 also came up with some huge saves not only in the first half but the entire game. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, BL was able to capitalize on a late goal in the second half and did not give up the lead winning 1-0. Now St. Paul’s still sits at an impressive 5-1 record which is currently the 3 seed in the conference with 4 games left. As the playoffs near the soccer team is in a good spot to try and chase history with a four-peat.
Later that night, St. Paul’s varsity football (2-2 in conference) faced (3-2 in conference) Severn under the lights on Tullai Field. The first half was a defensive battle with key players like Rashad Jones ’27, Linden Barganske ’27, and Karsten Karaolis ’27 all making big defensive plays resulting in the game being 0-0 going into halftime. Coming out of halftime both teams started to heat up, Severn struck first by marching down field and scoring a rushing touchdown. Shortly after St. Paul’s offense clicked, driving down the field and throwing a 5 yard receiving TD to Cahron Wheeler ’27 to tie the game at 7-7. With six minutes left in the game Severn scored going up by 7. It only took two minutes for St. Paul’s to tie the game mainly due to help from Kye Shaw ’27 going for a 50 yard run and Trevor White ’27 running it in for St. Paul’s 2nd TD of the night. Momentum was high but shortly faded due to Severn scoring and leaving only 2 minutes to score. SP sadly couldn’t come back, losing the game 21-14.
With such an action packed night for the Crusaders on Friday night, we finally enter a new week of school, and sports. Despite the devastating outcomes of both the soccer and football games school spirit is high. While the full confidence of teams might be wavering in the minds of few around campus, both soccer and football have the entire school cheering and supporting them for this week of competition. Even with mixed opinions and some negative feelings towards the games from many students, the student body never fails to give their undivided support to our sports teams. “Seeing fellow classmates succeed on and off the field is something we take pride in here at SP,” said student Ryan Vizcarrondo ’27. Truly showcasing the support for each other that every student has here. With much hard work and improved strategies, both soccer and football hope to bring home a win for the Crusaders this week. Will they prevail or will they suffocate under the weight of expectation? The student body believes they can pull it off and go on a run towards the end of the season. The only way to find out is to see how the Crusaders battle this week.