With 3:20 left in Friday's final frame, it was 4th-and-2 for Xavier, trailing by 13 points. The Knights quarterback, Peter Heaney, dropped back to throw, but the Chaminade trio of Thomas Jemison, Louis D'Agostino, and Luca Smith found themselves in the backfield once again, preventing Heaney from scrambling and forcing him to make an off-balance throw, one which fell incomplete to seal a 20-7 win for the Flyers.

"We wanted to finish strong and get back to winning,'' said Chaminade head coach Tom Claro. "I felt like we moved the ball very well, our offense played great, and our defense played very well. I'm really happy with the way we played, and I'm happy with the momentum we have now going into the playoffs."

Despite playing in different divisions, both teams had major potential playoff implications on the line in this matchup. Prior to the game, Chaminade was sitting at 6-3 overall (4-2 in league play) with 123.67 power points. This put them fifth in the AAA standings, one spot shy of a home playoff game.

As for the Knights, they entered at 4-3 overall (3-3 in league play) with 115.33 power points, good for sixth place in the AA-I standings. They too were within striking distance of a home playoff game, but needed to jump both St. Peter's and Fordham Prep to secure that spot. 

The Flyers struck first on their opening drive. Three third-down completions by quarterback Tim Murphy - one each for Timothy Battaglia, Brendan Park, and Brady Murray - were key in keeping the drive going. Soon after, running back Peter Gerbasi was able to maneuver his way into the end zone to give Chaminade the early lead. A missed extra point kept the score at 6-0.

After a Xavier three-and-out, Chaminade made a mistake on special teams. Michael Genovese appeared to hesitate on a punt return and had the football knocked loose as he tried to cut upfield. The Knights jumped on top of it at the Flyers' 32-yard line, setting them up in prime position to put points on the board.  

The Knights made the most of the short field after the turnover. Aydin Mora had two strong runs, the second of which ended in a touchdown, to put his team up a point, 7-6, as the game moved to the second quarter. 

After the two teams traded punts, the Flyers tried something new on offense, as sophomore Sean Carnevale entered the game at quarterback. Although he struggled initially, the move would soon pay off.

On his second drive, Carnevale showed why he deserved his place on the varsity squad. On 3rd-and-18, he escaped pressure in the pocket and made defenders miss in the open field for a first down, stealing any momentum Xavier had gained.

The rest of the Chaminade ground game took it from there, as the dynamic duo of Gerbasi and Peter Cwietniewicz ran all over the Xavier defense. Gerbasi finished off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game, to put the Flyers up, 13-7.

"We always say we want to get Carnevale more play," reflected Claro. "Obviously, at that point the game was very tight, and he responded. He's obviously someone who we know has a lot of talent and he's young, so we want to keep getting him some reps."

The Flyers defense ended the first half with an exclamation point. With 10 seconds remaining, on what became the final play of the half, the Chaminade blitz, led by D'Agostino and Jemison, stormed the Xavier backfield and sacked Heaney, keeping the halftime score 13-7 in favor of the Crimson and Gold. 

After a quick punt from Xavier to start the second half, the Flyers offense went to work. Murphy, back in the game, led the charge. Completions to Peter Braz and Michael Dietrich got the offense down near the goal line, where Cwietniewicz did the honors, finding his way to paydirt on 3rd-and-goal from the two to extend the lead to 13.

Chaminade's defense locked down the Xavier offense from there, finishing the regular campaign on a high note.

With the win, the Flyers moved to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in league play. Seven wins is Chaminade's highest regular-season total since 2013, when they notched eight victories.

Xavier fell to 4-4 overall and 3-4 in league play with the loss.

Despite the victory, Chaminade was unable to earn a home playoff game. Instead, the Flyers will attempt to begin their march to a championship this Friday evening at Farrell. Kickoff is 6 p.m.