QB O'Hara helps Cardinal O'Hara top West Catholic

The only Cardinal O'Hara player happier than Kevin Calamita after Friday night's dramatic, double-overtime victory against West Catholic might have been senior quarterback Tommy O'Hara.

Calamita, a junior kicker, missed the potential game-winning extra point with 1 minute, 6 seconds left in regulation.

The holder for that extra point was Tommy O'Hara, who said he inadvertently blocked Calamita's kick with his right hand.

"Coach [B.J. Hogan] has been on me all year for holding with my right hand, not my left," O'Hara said. "I thought that was going to cost us the Catholic League championship."

It didn't.

O'Hara outlasted the Burrs, 27-26, and won the Catholic League Blue Division championship.

Calamita's kick gave O'Hara its first PCL title since 2004 and completed its first undefeated PCL regular season since 1985.

O'Hara (9-0, 6-0) had trailed, 12-3, at halftime before mounting a comeback.

Tommy O'Hara finished with 149 passing yards and a touchdown pass on 13-of-29 passing.

The senior also added two rushing touchdowns. His second ground tally tied the game at 26 in the second overtime.

O'Hara's Jamir Redd had stopped West Catholic's Calil Wortham on the Burrs' conversion try after Da'Vion Kidd-Jackson hit Rovny Dasilva for a 7-yard score.

Calamita knew that meant the game could come down to him.

"Tommy came over to me and said it's gonna be OK and that it was his fault," Calamita said. "Everyone just said we'd get it back in overtime, so I just had to do my job and make it."

Other Lions also played critical roles. Justin Santilla caught four passes for 64 yards and a score and also added an interception.

Derrick Patrick Jr., a sophomore, caught his first pass of the season on a desperate fourth-quarter play that netted 22 yards on third-and-15.

West Catholic (5-5, 4-2) was led by two touchdown passes by Kidd-Jackson and 89 rushing yards by Wortham.

In the end, however, the game was decided by the right foot of Calamita, who also drilled field goals from 29 and 27 yards out.

He said he had never made two field goals in a game before.

"Now junior year, varsity kicker and making the extra point for the PCL championship!" he said. "That's crazy. I could never have imagined that."

Cardinal O'Hara 3 0 3 6 8 7- 27

West Catholic 6 6 0 0 8 6 - 26

OH: Kevin Calamita 27 field goal

WC: Calil Wortham 4 run (pass failed)

WC: Ahmad Kent 26 pass from Da'Vion Kidd-Jackson (run failed)

OH: Calamita 29 field goal

OH: Justin Santilla 18 pass from Tommy O'Hara (kick failed)

OH: O'Hara 2 run (Santilla run)

WC: Wortham 1 run (Wortham run)

WC: Rovny Dasilva 7 pass from Kidd-Jackson (run failed)

OH: O'Hara 4 run (Calamita kick)