Saturday, September 21, 2002

By Jerome Michaels
SJSports Special Correspondent

Most people showing up at Bendorf-Narducci Memorial Field had a good feeling how this game was going to turn out. Audubon High School, on this day, was dedicating their football field in the memory of Joe Bendorf and Mike Narducci. Both were former head coaches for the Green Wave from Audubon. With the packed house and heighten opening game ceremonies, Audubon looked as if they would be able to compete against a strong Sterling Knights football team. The Knights would score 41 unanswered points to walk away with a 41-10 Colonial Conference game.

This was a battle between the first and last place teams in the Liberty Division. At the beginning of this game, it was hard to tell which of these teams were the ones sitting on top of the division. Audubon would successfully move the ball down field when starting quarterback Joe Flacco went to the air. What looked like the west-coast offensive by the Green Wave, Flacco got his team into the redzone. Rich Horan's field goal from 32-yards out gave the home crowd a lot to cheer about...until Sterling received the ball.

Marcus Hammond put all of the hometown hype out of his mind and focused on the task in hand. Get some points on the scoreboard and not let this game get out of hand. Staying with the game plan, the Knights after a couple of plays got on the scoreboard. Ken Parker was at the receiving end of a 59-yard touchdown reception from Hammond to lead 6-3 after one quarter. Mario Marchione added a rushing touchdown, along with a successful two point conversion, to go into the locker room at the half leading 14-3.

Sterling would take full advantage of Audubon's mistakes in the second half. Not only was Parker involved with the Knights scoring his second touchdown in the third quarter, he also picked off Flacco's pass and returned it 25-yards for a score. Marchione added his second rushing touchdown of the game giving Sterling a 35-3 lead going into the final quarter. Both teams scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to round out the scoring in this game.