STATE COLLEGE — The Wolves of St. Joseph’s returned to Memorial Field in downtown State College on Sept. 2, but it did not go the way they or their fans expected it to go.
Hosting Fairfield, in the first-ever meeting between the two schools, the Wolves’ offense struggled immensely the entire night.
After a 3-and-out by the Wolves on their opening possession, Fairfield’s Charlie Burnett took a punt return 45 yards to the house, putting the Knights on the board.
Burnett had a special night to say the least, scoring four touchdowns. He bounced off Wolves defenders and outran anyone who tried stopping him, en route to a 166-yard night on only nine carries.
St. Joe’s head coach Steve Guthoff didn’t really expect a breakout game from the 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore.
“He’s somebody we didn’t see a whole lot of,” Guthoff said in reference to the scrimmages they had on tape.
The Knights found themselves leading 27-0 at the end of the first half.
Wolves starting quarterback, junior Brendan Robinson, left the game after taking a vicious hit to his ribs.
Robinson was replaced by sophomore Christian Chirielieson, who made his first-ever appearance at the quarterback position. And, what a debut it was for the young sophomore. He finished his Friday night by going 10-of-17 for 118 yards and two touchdowns, only throwing one interception.
The Wolves went the first seven quarters of their season without putting any points on the scoreboard.
That was until there was 4:56 remaining in the game.
With the Knights leading 47-0 at the time, Chirielieson found speedy freshman Zach Decarmine across the middle of the field. Decarmine used his shifty moves to put the Wolves on the scoreboard for the first time in 2016.
“It was huge … it gave us momentum for the future,” Guthoff said.
Those were not the only points put up by the Wolves.
Chirieleison found Jake Stormer on a slant-route from 10 yards out, and a touchdown came with 17 seconds left in the game.
The Knights recovered an onside kick,and took a knee to solidify the 47-15 win for the night.
As for the Wolves, they now drop to 0-2 on the season.
“It is about making the baby steps,” Guthoff said.
The Wolves seem to be on the right path. At the end of the game, you could see a shift in both the attitude and demeanor of the young team from Boalsburg. They’ve finally broke through the “shutout barrier” and put points on the scoreboard.
“Our focus is to get better every week, that is what it comes down to,” Guthoff said.
The Wolves travel to Perkiomen next, where they’ll try to break into the win column.
