STANDING ON the 50-yard line, Sean McCormick launched a pass to Kevin Ceno, who waited for the ball 10 yards from the goal.
The senior midfielder collected the pass from McCormick and angled past Roman Catholic senior goalkeeper Mark Tobin, netting Father Judge's only goal in the Crusaders' 1-0 victory against Roman on Friday night at Clark Family Multipurpose Field.
"We handled the game really well this year," Father Judge senior backer Shane Holmes said. "It was a team effort and we came out and won."
Judge, who finished the regular season 16-0, will be the No. 1 seed in the Catholic League playoffs. Its opening-round game will be next Friday.
"We had a lot of energy going into the game," Holmes said. "Our intensity was great in the first five minutes.
"They had one mistake and we scored."
After Ceno's goal in the seventh minute, Father Judge held Roman's offense in check. The Cahillites totaled six shots in the first half, two of which were on goal.
Coming into the game, Roman was blanked one time in the team's previous 14 games. It was also the third time all season the squad scored one goal or fewer.
"We played a lot of defense and we played hard," Holmes said. "It was an even game, but we came out with the win."
Offensively, Judge totaled 14 shots in the game, 11 of which were on goal. Tobin made two diving saves in the first half to help keep the deficit at one.
Roman, which came into the game with a 13-0-1 record, had two shots on goal in the second half, including a shot from senior forward/midfielder Patrick Madgey that hit the crossbar with seven minutes remaining.
"We handled their offense perfectly," Judge senior backer Billy McCarthy said. "We played our game and we finished it out."
Father Judge also kept Roman Catholic senior forward Brandon Guntekunst off the stat sheet. Guntekunst did not register a shot on goal Friday night.
"He is usually the momentum guy," McCarthy said. "He does everything. (Shutting him down) gave us the upper hand."
Both McCarthy and Holmes play club soccer with Guntekunst and the duo said their time together gave them an advantage.
"You have to watch the speed of Brandon," McCarthy said. "He's one of the best and me and (Holmes) did a great job covering for each other. We read the plays. Communication was everything."
"I knew where he was going," Holmes said. "He's fast and one of the strongest kids I go up against."
The pair also said Judge's game plan of being physical with the Roman front line helped them control play, which created chances on the offensive end.
"Once we started getting physical in the middle of the field, the game opened up," Holmes said "That's how we got our chances to score. We stayed back and slowed the game down. We took it one step at a time. They are a physical team and that's how they like to play."
"Once the season started, I had this game marked off," McCarthy said. "I was looking forward to beating them.
"Emotions were high," McCarthy added. "Everyone had this game marked off on their calendars. We are all neighborhood kids."
