NEW YORK– The St. Anthony's football team still remembers last season’s shocking defeat at home to St. Joseph by the Sea. How could it not? It was its only loss all season.

“We lost homecoming last year, it definitely left a bad taste in our mouth,” St. Anthony’s quarterback Charlie Raffa says. “We just wanted to come out and beat them up and put as many points on the board as we could.”

That’s exactly what the Friars did Saturday night against the Vikings, putting on an absolute clinic in a 56-14 victory. The blowout is a rarity in the series, the previous five encounters between the Friars (5-0) and Vikings (3-2) had been decided by a total of 38 points.

St. Anthony’s once again displayed its dominance offensively, marking the third straight game scoring more than 40 points.

Junior running back Brian Sherlock (7 carries for 104 yards) bullied his way for three touchdowns while Mike Schillizzi ran for two of his own.

Raffa only attempted 4 throws, but his 119 rushing yards on 5 carries, one for a touchdown, set the tone. Joseph LoCascio added one as well. St. Anthony’s rushed for 293 yards.

On the Friar’s opening possession of the game, Raffa optioned left to Sherlock who followed his blockers downfield for a 39-yard sprint. Three plays later, Sherlock punched in his first trip to the end zone.

“My blocks were great up front,” Sherlock says. “Had to jump over a couple, just had to get it done.”

It became a theme all night, St. Anthony’s doing what they do best – running the option.

“I thought Charlie ran the option really well tonight,” Friars head coach Rich Reichert says. “He held on to the ball until the last minute, and he knew he was going to take some shots doing it that way, but our offensive coaches found some stuff during the week and it worked out really well.”

A successful option doesn’t happen unless the offensive line is in synch with each other, which the Friars’ is. They’re arguably the best line in the league, led by senior center Joey Cronin.

Time and again the front line would seal its defenders, freeing up Raffa to make a play. After going up 7-0 and holding St. Joseph by the Sea to another fruitless set of downs, Raffa kept the ball himself and used his speed to carry him for a 63-yard touchdown run. It took all of 16 seconds for the score.

The Vikings scored on a two-yard touchdown run by running back Justin Mangiacasale (85 yards on 24 carries) to cut the score to 14-6, but the 2-point conversion was no good as only to have quarterback Michael Scacco sacked by a charging Brendan Quinn.

The Friars scored 21 points in the second quarter, eating up most of the clock with their efficient running game and putting the contest out of reach. St. Joseph by the Sea was unable to get any production from its weapons, running backs John Diaz and Chris Murphy who combined for 1,249 rushing yards prior to Saturday night’s defeat. Murphy was sidelined with a torn ACL suffered against Fordham Prep last week. Diaz was slowed to just 87 yards on 21 attempts.