7 September 2024
It didn’t look good for Hill-Murray through one half on Friday.
Fresh off a season-opening shutout loss to Becker, the Pioneers — a Class 4A state entrant a year ago who possesses similar aspirations this fall — trailed St. Agnes 13-7 in Maplewood through two quarters.
The Pioneers were seemingly in need of a spark.
It came on the very first play of the third quarter. Hill-Murray forced a fumble on the Aggies’ opening kick return, and recovered the loose ball around the St. Agnes 25-yard-line. The Pioneers parlayed the turnover into a touchdown, as Jackson Reeves hit Jacob Dornan for an 8-yard scoring strike, shortly after Reeves connected with John Pietruszewski on a critical 4th-down play to keep the drive alive.
Reeves got into the end zone on his own on Hill-Murray’s ensuing drive via a quarterback sneak from a yard out, and the Pioneers were well on their way to a 28-13 home victory.
St. Agnes is a Class 2A program in St. Paul with just a handful north of 300 kids. But the Aggies proved Friday they’re capable of punching above their weight class. Stacked with 19 seniors — a number that would make many larger programs in the state jealous — St. Agnes figures to feature heavily into the state equation this season.
Trailing 7-0 early, Reeves hit Austin Williams for a 3-yard touchdown pass to cap a game-opening drive that took nearly seven minutes of clock, St. Agnes responded with a 64-yard rushing touchdown from Joshua Lopez. Then, early in the second frame, Lopez hit Danny Plamann for a 94-yard touchdown on a fly route on 3rd and 20 to put the Aggies (1-1) in front.
But St. Agnes made a few too many mistakes — penalties, fumbles and botched snaps — to hang with the Pioneers (1-1) over the course of four quarters, especially on a night when the Aggies lost a couple key players to injury, including starting running back Evonson Plamann. Even Lopez exited the game slowly with 39 seconds to play after a roughing the passer penalty.
By the fourth quarter, Hill-Murray seemed to have worn the Aggies down. While the Reeves-and-Pietruszewski powered passing game did most of the damage for the Pioneers throughout the evening, it was Xavier Daniels who effectively sealed the game midway through the final frame with a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Pioneers up two scores.
Pietruszewski finished with nine catches for 107 yards.
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