The Eagles came into their annual Thanksgiving Day tilt with Camden Catholic having lost only once this year, 13 days earlier in the state tournament to North Jersey powerhouse St. Peter's, and holding a place in the Daily News Top 10 since September. Despite some inexperience, especially along the offensive line, Paul VI had been in control from the start of the season, and there was no cause of concern that this day would be any different.

Camden Catholic, meanwhile, entered the game on its home turf in disarray, struggling in four losses in its past five games and many times just trying to get out of its own way.

And yet, after a Paul VI fumble with 8:52 left in the first half, a scoreless tie was truly up for grabs.

That is until senior linebacker Shane Doherty took the ball and, with it, all the momentum back a little more than a minute later.

"The turnover really helped us," said Doherty, who had eight tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery in Paul VI's 33-6 win. "We hadn't had a great day to that point, but it put our offense in position to score pretty quickly.

"This game was basically to [define] our season. If this game had ended in a loss, it wouldn't have mattered what else we had done this season. This was our season, and it was a great win."

Paul VI (9-1) had the added benefit of ending a 2-year stretch in which it had fallen to the Irish (4-6), including a 27-26 loss in 2007 that still sits uneasily in the Eagles' stomachs.

"This was big for us, because it's been 2 years and we really believe we were the better team 2 years ago," junior quarterback Khaalig Burroughs said. "They wanted it more then, and, last year, hey, they were the better team. We wanted this real bad and came out as hard as we could.

"The first half, I was shaky. We made some adjustments, and we found some openings."

But those openings didn't happen until Doherty and the Eagles' defense took control of the first half.

Camden Catholic, which crossed midfield only twice, the first time coming with 1:12 left in the second quarter, moved to its 34-yard line with 7:22 left in the first half. One play earlier, Wisconsin-bound senior quarterback Joe Brennan hit tight end Sherard Cadogan on a delayed crossing pattern. Whatever momentum the Irish had quickly evaporated as Ryan Graves fumbled as he hit the hole and Doherty jumped on the loose ball, giving Paul VI first-and-10 at the Irish 34-yard line.

On the second play from scrimmage after the recovery, Burroughs handed off to sophomore Johnel Anderson and, 34 yards later, the Eagles held a 7-0 lead.

"It's obviously a big rivalry," Paul VI coach John Doherty said. "We knew that their defense would be ready. [Irish defensive coordinator Curtis May] does a great job, and we knew they would try to stop [running back James Kenner]. We knew they'd have eight in the box, and we just had to be patient.

"At some point, we had to open it up more."

With the lead, Paul VI had the opportunity to pick its spots, and Burroughs picked his spots - coincidentally, most of which went away from Cadogan at the linebacker spot in the second half after eight first-half tackles - and picked apart Camden Catholic on 10-for-17 passing for 159 yards.

The Eagles added another touchdown before the half for a 13-0 lead and built a 26-0 cushion - after fullback Matt Bennett went 50 yards down the left side - before Camden Catholic found a second opportunity on Paul VI's end of the field.

"I just wanted to put 100 percent into my final game," said Cadogan, who is still in the process of choosing where he will play next year, from among Michigan State, Pittsburgh and South Carolina. "I'm happy with my 4 years here. They're a good team with a great coaching staff that was able to make adjustments for the second half. Give them a lot of credit." *

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