WHAT IT MEANS: Last week Iona Prep suffered a tough loss at home to Xaverian and this week was all about putting that game behind them.

On Sunday, that mission was accomplished as they improved in all areas, offensively, defensively, and on special teams to beat Fordham Prep in convincing fashion 63-30 at Coffey Field in the Bronx.

“Last week was a wake up call,” said Iona Prep head coach Vic Quirolo. “We didn't have a good week against Farrell and we didn't have a real good week against Xaverian. There was a lot of build up and we knew that if we didn't do something about it that we'd be in trouble.”

HOW IT HAPPENED: Iona Prep went three-and-out on their first drive, but after that it seemed like they couldn't be stopped. Quarterback Mario Biaggi found Brandon Williams for a 40-yard touchdown pass to get the scoring started with 8:43 left in the first quarter.

A interception returned for a touchdown by Matthew Berni made it 14-0 just three minutes later. Then only 32 seconds after that Biaggi ran for another touchdown to make it 21-0, capitalizing on an interception by Michael Barbuto.

Shaquille Townsend was then turned loose as he picked up a pair of rushing touchdowns over the next five minutes to pad the lead to 35-0.

FORDHAM PREP’S BRIEF COMEBACK: Fordham Prep wouldn't just go away even though they were down 42-0 in the second quarter. Head coach Peter Gorynski pulled starting quarterback John Trimble in favor of James McHale and the move seemed to pay off at first.

McHale immediately had an impact as he found Logan Williamson in the end zone for their first score of the game and a two point conversion made it 48-2.

However Biaggi wouldn't just let them back into the game as he found Omari Buster on the next drive for a 10-yard touchdown pass.

SECOND-HALF MESSAGE: Fordham Prep actually managed to get back into the game 49-24 early in the second half, but Chris Cooper made it almost impossible as he ran a kickoff back for an 88-yard touchdown that made it 56-24.

PICKOFFS EVERYWHERE: There was no way Iona Prep would be able to score 63 points in this game without some help from Fordham’s quarterbacks who threw four interceptions. Four different players in total had picks including Berni, Barbuto, Daniel Fischer, and Aaaqil Sheppard.

Iona Prep’s All-American cornerback Justin Combs didn’t have a pick, but that might only be because Fordham Prep looked afraid to throw the ball his way. Ben Andreycak, the wide out Combs was covering, only caught four passes all game for 57 yards. The total yardage might seem like a decent amount, but most of that came on one 31-yard pass.

TOO MANY PENALTIES: Iona Prep won by a whopping 33 points, but it would not have even been that close if it hadn’t been for so many big penalties. In all there were three personal fouls called and two pass interferences for a total of 75 penalty yards. All but one of those plays were in the second half and it was part of the reason why the second half score was 14-14.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Biaggi was awful last week against Xaverian as he was pulled after the first half against Xaverian. This week was a big bounce back for him as he threw three touchdown passes, rushed for another one, and had 162 yards passing overall.

“Last week I wasn't really into it,” Biaggi admitted. “I'll be honest, I wasn't completely into it. But this week I was ready to play hard and it felt good when it finally paid off.”

UP NEXT: Iona Prep will look to keep their momentum going as they face Chaminade on Saturday afternoon in another road game. Fordham Prep has their hands full as they head to Monsignor Farrell next Friday night.