Defense and special teams carried the Father Ryan football team Friday night as the Fighting Irish outlasted Brentwood 10-7 in a heated defensive battle at Giacosa Field.
Father Ryan (1-1) forced a couple of turnovers and blocked two field goal attempts as well as got pressure on a field goal that went wide left with less than a minute to go that could have tied the game, thus giving the Irish their first victory of the 2022 season.
"We actually showed some consistency besides one play which they scored on," Father Ryan head coach Brian Rector said. "To keep up the intensity for four quarters is not easy, and I felt like we did that minus one play. And we really improved from one week to the next.
"Special teams, I don't know if we were good, but it did go in our favor. In a game like this, you look up against a great team like this, everything matters."
Brentwood also had a stellar night defensively. The Bruins defensive unit forced four turnovers. After Bruins quarterback Grant Nelson threw an interception, the Brentwood defense pounced on a fumble with 2:42 remaining in the fourth quarter and Father Ryan leading 10-7.
Kyler Green and Tucker Weber each nabbed an interception for Brentwood, while Vince Long did so for Father Ryan.
Bruins wide receiver Matthew Manning had 11 total catches Friday and two of them came on the final drive to get Brentwood (1-1) into field goal range to attempt to tie things up.
The kick by Isaac Hayes went wide, but his team rallied around him after the game as they move forward to face Summit High School next week.
"That's the same kid who stepped in and helped us win that game last week (versus Blackmon), and that's the kid we trot out there against Summit," Brentwood head coach Clint Finch said. "We still love him, and you have to have a short memory as a kicker and just go tee it up."