Things are going right this season for the Seton Catholic football team, and that was evident on Friday.
The Sentinels trailed winless Goodyear Desert Edge 28-7 midway through the third quarter before quarterback Justin Sieczkowski took over.
Sieczkowski had a hand in four unanswered touchdowns as the Sentinels broke away for a 42-28 win in a 4A-II nonregion game against the Scorpions (0-5).
“I wasn’t worried,” Sieczkowski said. “I had faith in my team that we were going to come back and win.
“I didn’t perform well (in the first half) and I think our defense stepped up big in the second half.
Trailing 21-7 at halftime, Seton (5-1) saw the hole it was in get deeper early in the third quarter as Scorpions running back Jeremi Williams scored his third touchdown of the game, this one from 2-yards away.
Seton coach Rex Bowser said he thinks the team’s upsetting loss to Scottsdale Notre Dame 54-9 last week carried over into the first half of this game.
“We were just awfully flat the first two and a half quarters and then our defense finally started playing and once our defense played then offense picked it up and it was a good second half performance for us,” Bowser said.
Sieczkowski led the charge with a 9-yard run and then a 33-yard scoring pass to Trevor Gleisner to pull Seton to within 28-21 going into the fourth quarter. Sieczkowski tied the game with a 2-yard run before the Sentinels defense delivered. Linebacker Clayton Cook intercepted a pass from Desert Edge quarterback Parker Moore with six minutes left in the fourth. Sieczkowski then ran 12 yards to put Seton up 35-28.
Sieczkowski finished with four rushing touchdowns and 273 yards passing. Kyle Johnson rushed for a pair of touchdowns, including the 9-yarder that put the game away.
Bower is optimistic for the rest of the season and said he is taking each game one at a time. “Being 5-1 right now when this team was 2-8 last year is a pretty good feeling,” he said. wn and 35-38 lead over the Scorpions.
