The St. Catherine’s High School football team kept an impressive streak going Friday.
The Angels locked up their spot in the WIAA playoffs for the 12th consecutive season by rallying from a two-touchdown deficit to beat Milwaukee Saint Thomas More 32-21 in a Metro Classic Conference game at Saint Francis.
The victory gave St. Catherine’s a 4-1 record in the MCC (4-3 overall), but it wasn’t easy as the Angels had to come from behind against the Cavaliers (2-5, 2-3 MCC).
Thomas More held a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Angels responded before the end of the first half when junior quarterback John Perugini connected with junior wide receiver Davion Thomas-Kumpula for a 31-yard touchdown pass.
The duo would hook up again to start the second half with a 6-yard touchdown play to make it 14-12 Cavaliers. But Thomas More answered right back with their ground game to extend their lead to 21-12.
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That was all the Cavaliers would get.
Perugini closed out the third quarter for the Angels with his second touchdown pass of the quarter and third of the game, hitting Jakari Oliver on a 13-yard score that closed the gap to 21-18.
“We got down quickly, but the boys rallied,” St. Catherine’s coach Dan Miller said. “The team took it upon themselves to motivate each other.”
The fourth quarter belonged to the Angels. Junior D.J. Miller scored on a 15-yard run that gave the Angels their first lead of the game at 26-21.
Perugini extended that lead to 32-21 on a 5-yard touchdown run that gave the Angels the breathing space they needed.
“We’re a really young team, but we have a really mature football IQ,” Miller said. “They believe. And they believed they could come back.”