HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : Chaminade Comeback Scuttles St. Genevieve

Chaminade High shook off a lackluster first half and took control of the game--and perhaps the race for the Santa Fe League title--by rallying for three second-half touchdowns in a 21-7 win over St. Genevieve on Saturday night at Birmingham High.

“I never know which team we have is going to show up,” Chaminade Coach Rich Lawson said. “We were just terrible in the first half. But we came out and pounded on them in the second half.”

Chaminade (2-0, 3-2), which mustered only 55 yards in total offense in the first half, marched 76 yards on 10 plays to open the third quarter and even the score, 7-7. Tailback Tim Lavin, who has recovered from a sprained knee he suffered two weeks ago, carried the ball nine times for 54 yards on the drive.

“I told the coach, ‘You give me the ball and I’ll get you yards,’ ” Lavin said. “I’ll carry the ball as many times as he wants me to.”

Lavin finished with 105 yards on 22 attempts to lead all ballcarriers. The Eagles, rushed for 157 yards and St. Genevieve was held to just 84 yards on the ground.

St. Genevieve running back Ruben Aguirre, who went into the game with 575 yards rushing, played sparingly because of a sprained ankle. He rushed for 21 yards on 10 carries--only one carry in the second half.

The Eagles took the lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter when quarterback Dave Morrison threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Chris Noonan, who made the grab at midfield as defensive back Paul Zamora fell down.

“We had a feeling that we were going to come back,” St. Genevieve Coach Lindon Crow said. “But that took a lot of steam out of us.”

Chaminade scored its final touchdown on a three-yard run by Lavin with two minutes to play.

St. Genevieve (1-1, 2-3) had a second-quarter drive die on Chaminade’s one-yard line when quarterback Frank Aguirre fumbled the snap from center on fourth down.

Aguirre came through for the Valiants on their next possession, throwing a 44-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marc Colon with two minutes left in the first half. Aguirre crossed up the Chaminade defense by faking two handoffs before easily lobbing the ball to Colon, who was wide open at the 25-yard line and raced untouched into the end zone to give St. Genevieve a 7-0 halftime lead.

Bell-Jeff 14, Cathedral 7--Tailback Phil Reynolds scored on a four-yard run with 44 seconds left, lifting Bell-Jeff to a Santa Fe League win over Cathedral at Burroughs High. The Guards (4-0-1, 1-0 in the league) fought off a rally by Cathedral (1-3-1), which tied the score on Antonio Benitez’s nine-yard run with 3:35 left.

But Reynolds, who rushed for 110 yards on 16 carries, kept Bell-Jeff in the game with a key fumble recovery with less than three minutes left.

Cathedral quarterback Bob Tumas fumbled after apparently being sacked for a four-yard loss. Reynolds scooped up the ball at his own 32-yard line and raced 27 yards to set up a first down on the Cathedral 40.