FAIRHOPE — St. Michael used a 33-yard passing touchdown from Gunner Rivers to Cooper Kurth with only 5:34 remaining to take a 20-19 lead over John Carroll Friday night. The Cardinal defense then stepped up with a Brayden Smith interception and a turnover on downs to seal the on-campus stadium's first win.

“I wasn’t so sure I was going to get it but right before, coach checked it and he said, ‘Look at Coop,’” Kurth recounted after the game. “I ran up on the dude, ran right across his face and it was perfect. Gunner threw it perfectly and I waltzed in. It was great; I was excited, had to come up big for us there.”

The quarterback explained the play wasn’t exactly designed to go to Kurth, but he just took what the defense gave him.

“It was a fake screen and it really wasn’t supposed to go to that guy,” Rivers said. “It’s supposed to go to the guy out wide but then the safety went out so I just threw it right down the middle.”

Defense bends but doesn’t break

St. Michael came up with four stops on fourth down, two of which came in the final frame. The first set up Kurth’s score with 5:48 remaining and the second sealed the victory with only 1:30 left on the clock.

“They started kind of running downhill at us but we hung in there and battled. All night long, I felt like the biggest thing was that we were bending but we didn’t break,” defensive coordinator Simon Cortopassi said. “The guys played tough and the offense got it clicking. You can’t ask for a better situation there at the end to get two stops and then let the offense go to victory formation.”

Miscues keep it close

However, the game only came down to the wire because of a couple of missed opportunities for the Cardinals in the red zone. St. Michael drove inside the 10-yard line twice in the first half only to fumble one away on the 2 and the other was turned over on downs at the 6. Head coach Philip Rivers knew that there was almost too much to overcome but his team hung in.

“We weren’t playing bad but we had too many mistakes that we couldn’t overcome,” Philip said. “But the defense kind of kept us alive. We talk about it all the time, ‘We just need to score one more point than them,’ and we did it.”

Jones catches first touchdown at on-campus stadium

Brody Jones helped the Cardinals light up the scoreboard when he recorded the on-campus stadium’s first regular-season touchdown on a 40-yard connection with Gunner to answer John Carroll’s first score in the second quarter.

Gunner opened the second-half scoring with a thundering 1-yard touchdown run that gave St. Michael its first lead of the game with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

“He found a way to get in and he was fired up to get in. I didn’t think he had a bad game, it just wasn’t his best game,” Philip said of his son. “As the quarterback I know he’s aspiring to be, it’s sometimes nice when you don’t have your best game and you can still win.”

Birthday boy gets a dunk

Cortopassi had extra reason to celebrate the Cardinal victory as Friday was also his birthday.

“Awesome to be 2-0, awesome way to start off in our first real game in the stadium,” Cortopassi said. “You couldn’t ask for it any better.”

But it did get better once St. Michael players found the defensive coordinator after the game and dumped an ice cooler on his back.

“They got me good,” he said.

Stat sheet

Gunner finished 16-of-28 passing for 236 yards and the 2 touchdown passes on top of the 1-yard touchdown run. Jones was the top target through the air with 8 catches for 137 receiving yards and 1 touchdown while Lavoie was the go-to choice on the ground with 123 rushing yards on 17 carries.

Kurth caught 2 passes for 38 receiving yards and the 1 touchdown and Tucker Tomlinson finished with 2 catches for 34 receiving yards as well as a 5-yard carry.

Up next

The Cardinals will take their 2-0 record on the road to open Class 4A Region 1 play against the W.S. Neal Eagles who lost to Excel 29-28 tonight.

John Carroll fell to 0-2 and is set for another road game next week as the Cavaliers open Class 5A Region 5 play against the Carver Birmingham Rams who started 0-1.

Money quotes

“As a tight end, it doesn’t happen all the time so when I caught it, that was the most excited I’ve been in a couple months,” Kurth said of hitting the open field on his touchdown. “I’m just thrilled, we’re 2-0 going into region play and I think we’re going to keep rolling.”

“(Starting 2-0 is) awesome, the first one was against our biggest rival and then this John Carroll game, it’s two catholic schools playing and we feel like this one could be played for a long time and could turn into a great rivalry,” Cortopassi said.

“They did really well tonight. Held them under 20, that’s great,” Gunner said of his defense. “If they can keep them under 20 we should win every single game.”

“We’ve got some things to clean up, the guys know it too,” Philip said. “It’s way more fun though cleaning it up after you win.”

Other Week 2 finals

Bayshore Christian Eagles 28, McIntosh Demons 14

Bayside Academy Admirals 42, Marbury Bulldogs 14

Citronelle Wildcats 42, Orange Beach Makos 14

Daphne Trojans 34, Pine Forest Eagles 7

Fairhope Pirates 36, Faith Academy 0

Foley Lions 25, B.C. Rain Red Raiders 14

MGM Vikings 21, Gulf Shores Dolphins 17

Robertsdale Golden Bears 13, Elberta Warriors 10

Spanish Fort Toros 24, Theodore Bobcats 21 (2 OT)

St. Paul’s Saints 24, Baldwin County Tigers 21