The defense was relentless, one that just got better and better as the night wore on.
It started with a safety and continued to surge. Constant pressure on the quarterback, a host of sacks, a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Nothing could slow it down.
And the offense? That was special, too.
Through the air or on the ground, it didn't matter.
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Holy Spirit was in rare form Sunday night. The Spartans certainly wanted nothing less than a victory over their biggest rival, but to do it in such a dominating fashion was probably unthinkable.
The Spartans were spectacular - start to finish - en route to a 38-0 victory over No. 11 St. Joseph (Hamm.) to claim the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics Non-Public, Group 2 state championship at Rutgers.
“The last two weeks of practice, our kids were on point with everything,” Holy Spirit coach A.J. Russo said. "We kept it simple so they could just go out and play football.
“They played hard, played their tails off. We had a tough schedule this year ... Our kids knew we were battle-tested. They continued to fight. They didn’t give up. They came to practice and worked hard. This is what happens when you do that and stick together as a team.”
Holy Spirit (8-4) finished with a commanding 349-47 edge in total yards. E’lijah Gray ran for 106 yards, while Patrick Smith added 61 and a pair of touchdowns. Trevor Cohen threw for 136 yards, including a 16-yard scoring pass to Elijah Steward (six catches, 127 yards).
Defensively, CJ Egrie recovered a blocked punt by Luke Spotts in the end zone. Andrew Constantino had five tackles and two sacks, while A’John Rembert, Sabri Drinks and Spotts also collecting sacks.
The Spartans reached the red zone six times and came away with points on four occasions. St. Joe found it once and were just 1-for-11 on third down conversions.
“It started with our defense. It did a tremendous job,” Smith said. "It was all heart. We dug deep down and knew we deserved to be on the same field as them.”
“We had meetings every day after school. The team comes together and this is the kind of product we can put out,” added senior Ahmad Brown, who had five tackles, including two sacks. “It was a fun ride.”
The victory avenged a 22-19 loss to St. Joe back on Nov. 2 as well as a 41-22 setback in last year’s final.
“Last time we were up by two touchdowns and they came back, so we knew we had to finish this game,” Smith said. “After the third quarter, we knew we just had to keep our foot on the pedal.”
St. Joe (9-2) simply had no answers.
“I don’t have any emotions,” said St. Joe senior standout Jada Byers, who was held to just 35 yards on eight carries - one of which went for 34 yards late in the game. "They came out with everything they had. They went whistle-to-whistle and played the way I wanted my team to play.
“If they did win, I expected it to be a close game - not 38-0.”
The Spartans held an unbelievable 212-1 advantage in total yards at halftime, taking a 16-0 lead and all the momentum one could imagine into the locker room.
“The locker room was silent. We went in and knew the game wasn’t over. We didn’t celebrate,” Brown said.
After the third quarter, the lead had doubled. St. Joe had two first downs, minus-42 rushing yards and just six total yards.
And when Smith scored with around 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the running clock kicked in.
“From start to finish, they outplayed us on both sides of the football. We couldn’t get anything going,” St. Joe coach Paul Sacco said.
“They beat us up. Defensively, they beat us up. Offensively, they pushed us around. They deserved it.”
The loss was the worst for St. Joe since last season’s 51-0 setback at the hands of West Deptford. The Wildcats came into the title game riding a seven-game winning streak, their lone loss coming against No. 9 St. Augustine on Sept. 21.
For Holy Spirit, it was a victory that will go down in Spartan history as one of the greatest of all time.
“The kids executed and just did a great job,” Russo said.
Kevin Minnick focuses on the WJFL and can be reached at kminnick@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @kminnicksports. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.