No one knew Zack Kearney could be this good this fast.
Xaverian coach Joe DeSiena moved the freshman up to the varsity for a Sept. 18 game against Fordham Prep looking for him to be an extra running back. That night, which Kearney said gave him his confidence, he showed he belonged, rushing for nearly 100 yards and a touchdown. Kearney continued to make big plays and show the ability to erase the Clippers mistakes with long runs, according to DeSiena.
“Over the last couple of weeks he has turned into our gameplan,” the coach said. “When he first came up he had a couple touches. Now we are getting him X-amount of touches to make sure he breaks that one play.”
Against Mount St. Michael’s it was two. Kearney rushed for 146 yards on nine carries and scored twice on touchdown runs of 49 yards to lead Xaverian to a 27-8 win over the Mountaineers in a CHSFL AAA game at a wet Kings Bay Field Sunday night. The victory ends a three-game losing streak for Xaverian (4-3, 3-3 CHSFL AAA) and keeps the Clippers in the CHSFL AAA playoffs picture.
“At first I was on JV for the first game,” Kearney said. “That’s where I thought I was going to be for the season.”
He beat Mount defenders to the sideline early in the second quarter to give the Clippers a 7-2 lead. The Mountaineers recorded a safety after blocking a punt on Xaverian’s opening drive. Kearney found the end zone again right before the half to extend the advantage to 13-2. His role was even bigger in the game with sophomore running back Muhammad King serving a one-game suspension for a “slip up at school”, according to DeSiena.
“[Kearney] is playing at a level where he is ignoring an unblocked defender,” DeSiena said. “He is breaking that extra tackle and doing things that I’ve never seen a freshman do at this level.”
The physical Clippers defense never let Mount (1-5, 1-5) find a rhythm and take advantage of excellent first half field position. It stopped them four times on drives starting in Xaverian territory, recovering a fumble, the first of two by the Mountaineers, inside its 20-yard line and stopping Mount on fourth down on another.
In the third quarter, Syracuse-bound wide receiver Mario Tull caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Greg Rando, who was 9-of-13 passes for 61 yards. Tushuan Plummer added a 1-yard scoring run to make it 27-8 late in the fourth of the Clippers homecoming game. Gary Acquah rushed for 62 yards on 14 carries and Michael Perrotta had a 1-yard TD run for Mount St. Michael.
“This was a big bounce back for us,” Tull said. “Now we are back on track.”
