FAIRHOPE — Junior Noah Moss ran for five touchdowns and sophomore Gunner Rivers threw four scores to help St. Michael collect its first playoff win in program history with a 63-40 decision over Handley Thursday night. The Cardinal defense came up with four takeaways with three interceptions and a fumble recovery at the end of the third quarter.

The new on-campus stadium at St. Michael Catholic hosted more history in its debut season as the Cardinals set a team record for most points in a single game as well as clinched the program’s first 10-win season.

When head coach Philip Rivers took over in 2021, St. Michael had won just five games in its first three varsity seasons. After a pair of six-win seasons and a five-win year, Cardinal seniors like Ollie Deese and Cooper Kurth felt it was fitting to record the program’s first playoff victory on school grounds.

“I can't put it into words. When I got here, we were just (starting) off as a program. To get the first playoff win, it's so full circle,” Deese said after the game. “I'm gonna shed some tears later. It's just really special.”

“It means everything. When my class got here as freshmen, none of us were sure if we’d even make the playoffs or have a stadium or anything. Now we’re hosting and going to Round Two,” Kurth said. “We’re all ecstatic. We just can’t believe it, but we all worked so hard to get here that we can believe it at the same time.”

For the head coach, as well as defensive coordinator Simon Cortopassi, St. Michael took another big step in the right direction.

“2021 we get our first region win and that seems like forever ago. 2023 we get in the playoffs and were really excited, but we realized last year how big it was to play at home,” Philip said. “Obviously, we’re trying to win the region, but a home playoff game was the next step which we got and then we talked today — not just today but all week — that it’s time to go win a playoff game.”

“We not only won a playoff game at home, but we just won our 10th game and there’s not a whole lot of teams that can say they won 10 games each season. You start getting to double digits, it’s awesome,” Cortopassi said. “We climbed another mountaintop tonight.”

Well-oiled machine goes to work

Moss described the Cardinals’ offensive unit as a well-oiled machine once it got going and scored a touchdown on seven-straight possessions to take a 49-21 lead in the third quarter. While he eclipsed 200 rushing yards for a seventh-consecutive triple-digit effort, Moss said the emphasis on the run game was not part of the initial game plan.

“Everything we saw on film was that they would have seven people in the box so we kind of expected to throw it more,” Moss said. “But the offensive line blocked unbelievably, and it worked out in our favor.”

“It was really a concern about running the ball in this game because of how many guys they put in the box, I mean they played what we call Cover Zero almost every snap,” Philip confirmed. “Our plan was to come out and throw the heck out of it, which we did, and then get to run some but once we popped a few big runs I think we went two drives where we didn’t throw a pass.”

Cardinals take flight

When St. Michael did throw the heck out of the ball, Gunner recorded scoring connections with three receivers, including juniors Tucker Tomlinson (31 and 37 yards) and Brody Jones (12 yards) as well as Moss (49 yards). Even though the Cardinals didn’t get many live reps in practice during the week due to rain, the quarterback said the team remained sharp.

“The first time we scored, we caught fire and we couldn’t be stopped. The O-Line did a really good job and Noah was running really hard,” Gunner said. “We just prepared for the week, it rained a lot and we didn’t really get to practice much but we were just mentally focused and executed.”

“We practiced outside this week for about 35 or 40 minutes and that was it,” Philip said. “They did a great job of handling that. We didn’t get a lot of reps but I told them it’s Week 11, we shouldn’t have to do the tackle circuit and run a route live now, it’s let’s do it here and be fresh.”

“We’ll defend a blade of grass”

On the other side of the ball, Cortopassi and the defense had their hands full with Handley’s run-heavy offense but the coach said the unit just kept battling. Junior Brayden Smith recorded interceptions in the first and fourth quarters, the latter of which ultimately sealed the win, and classmate Kamarjay Lavoie stole a tipped pass and returned it around 45 yards for a touchdown, but a flag kept it just outside the end zone.

“The message was to just keep throwing punches and fighting. The offense was scoring and we were coming up with timely stops but we have to eliminate the big play,” Cortopassi said. “In the first half, I felt like we were playing really good defense and I know that sounds crazy because we had three big plays.”

St. Michael delivered a big blow on the last play of the third quarter when the Tigers were inching toward the end zone only to suffer a fumbled snap recovered by the Cardinals.

Handley moved from the 5-yard line on 1st-and-Goal to the 1-yard line on second down. After a bobbled snap on second down, the Tigers moved back to the 2-yard line where another poor center-quarterback exchange on third down fell to the turf and maintained St. Michael’s 49-34 lead.

“Bend but don't break, we say it all the time. Sudden change, something happens, offense throws a pick or something, we have to go out there and do our thing, we gotta make a big stop there,” Deese said. “We didn't let them in, we didn't give them an inch. Once they got past the five-yard line, we were just so juiced and we weren't going to give them anything.”

“They could potentially cut it to a one-score game, and we just kept making them snap it. Handley is a physical team, they were wearing on us and we were wearing down it felt,” Cortopassi said. “But we kept battling and we packed it in, they had a missed exchange on the play before and then they did again and we stopped them on the one-yard line.”

Up next

The Cardinals improved to 10-1 overall with a second five-game winning streak this season to also set a program record. In the second round of the playoffs, St. Michael is set to hit the road and face the Pleasant Grove Spartans who have won nine games in a row and have been ranked the No. 2 team in Class 4A since Week 2.

Money quotes

“I just think that people need to watch out for the Cardinals because we’re coming,” Moss said.

“We’re coming at you every time, we’re trying to score as many points as we can,” Gunner said of the offense’s mentality.

“Just a gritty game, but it was the game we love. Up front we were all just grinding, Noah ran like crazy, Gunner’s launching the ball everywhere, we’ve got dudes streaking down the field; it’s awesome, it’s what you want to see,” Kurth said. “63 points in a playoff game against a good team like Handley, incredible.”

“Thank you to our community and all of our families for coming out and supporting and I’m just so happy for our kids because the fight and desire they showed tonight was unbelievable,” Cortopassi said.

“There’s nothing like playoff football. … I don’t care the level, there’s nothing like the feeling you have in the morning of a playoff game. I don’t care that it’s high school football, and I’ve been in high-level playoff games, but I’m saying there’s nothing like it,” Philip said. “And to win and have a chance to extend another week, because there’s such an abrupt ending if you don’t win it all and it hurts. Obviously, it happens to every team but the champion.”