ESSEX JUNCTION -- The Mount Anthony Union High School varsity football team took a huge step by just getting to Friday’s Division-I quarterfinal game against top-seeded Essex.
The Fighting Patriots’ next lesson was in what a championship-caliber team looks like.
MAU hung with the Hornets for much of the first half, but ultimately allowed too many big plays in a 46-19 loss.
Essex completed an array of offensive strikes that appeared to come straight out of a video game, including a 51-yard hook-and-ladder TD on the final play of the first half and a school-record 88-yard scoring strike from quarterback Max Librizzi to Mike DiMambro with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter.
The Fighting Patriots received a pair of touchdown runs from quarterback Keegan Corbett and another ground score from Mike Rogers. Receiver Lance Elithorpe made a number of standout plays for MAU, including catches of 53 and 31 yards in the second half.
Essex scored first on a 56-yard punt return by Evan McCrea with 4:50 remaining in the first quarter. MAU’s Sean Willette blocked the extra-point attempt by Pat Nee, and the score remained 6-0 through the end of the frame.
The first of several big defensive plays for the Fighting Patriots came during the second quarter, when Matt Keir blocked an Essex punt to give MAU great field position at the Hornets’ 32-yard line. Corbett drove his team down to the goal-line, then scored on a one-yard keeper
Essex re-took the lead just under three minutes later, when Steve Black hauled in a long pass at the MAU seven yard-line and McCrea capped the drive with a four-yard TD run off-tackle right.
The game looked headed for halftime with the Hornets up 13-7, until head coach Charlie Burnett’s crew stunned its visitors with a hook-and-ladder touchdown - Librizzi to Pat Nee to McCrea - to reach the endzone from 51 yards out with no time left on the game clock.
Mount Anthony appeared to gain some momentum by forcing a three-and-out on the Hornets’ opening possession of the third quarter, but Rogers fumbled the ensuing punt and Librizzi capped a drive the other way with a 34-yard TD pass to Adam Picard.
The Hornets then put together their school-record-setting 88-yard pass straight down the middle of the field, and another scoring drive finished off by Kevin Jenko’s 12-yard TD made the score 39-7, Essex.
Corbett hit Elithorpe for a 53-yard completion to set up Rogers’ four-yard TD run with 7:46 left in the third, but Essex came right back behind a one-yard TD plunge by backup QB Ryan Mitchell.
A nifty 31-yard tip-and-catch by Elithorpe brought MAU back to the Hornets’ doorstep, and Corbett once again went in from one yard out to cap scoring with just over four minutes remaining.
The Hornets will advance to next weekend’s D-I championship game against No.3 Rutland.
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