Firebirds Oust Chaminade from Playoffs 37-20

Pop quiz: What has never happened before in the CHSFL, yet twice in 2010?

Answer: Kellenberg has defeated .

The Firebirds (5-5) dispatched the Flyers 37-20 Sunday night at Michael J. Tully Park, making it their . Kellenberg had won the season opener at Chaminade (1-9) in September thanks to a 27-yard field goal from Tim Wienclaw, and the senior WR did not show any indications he had slowed down in the intervening two months.

"His first touchdown wasn't even thrown to him, he was on the opposite side of the field, he saw that the ball was underthrown," Kellenberg head coach Kevin Hanitan said after the game. "We knew Timmy was one of our Division I prospects. We don't have a lot of guys like that, but he is clearly a Division I athlete and he's playing at a Division I level."

Wienclaw caught seven passes from senior QB Nick Fiore for 104 yards, three touchdowns and a field goal in the CHSFL AA semifinal matchup, including the breakaway 74-yard reception to start the second that put the Firebirds up 16-7.

"I wanted to come across the field," Wienclaw said, "and the ball was sitting in the air and I went up and got it."

Wienclaw would again run into the endzone from five-yards out off a pass from Fiore to make it 23-7 in favor of Kellenberg. Pulling double-duty as kicker, Wienclaw nailed each of the extra point attempts save one, which went wide of the northern goalpost's upright.

Kellenberg dominated the game to such an extent that they scored on their first five possessions. "You go five-for-five scoring," Hanitan said, "that's a tough thing to overcome."

Firebird senior RB Evan Calvo also ran in for a seven-yard TD to cap off the opening drive of the second half to make and again in the fourth from eight-yards out.

Chaminade had opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown rush from sophomore RB Dan Fowler to cap an 81-yard drive. The Flyers did not score again until the third when junior RB Ed Tigh carried the ball in from 15-yard out, but the Flyers could not get the ensuing two-point conversion.

"Defensively we were a little shaky in the beginning, they came down (and) drove the length of the field," Hanitan said.

Chaminade's biggest drive came during the closing moments of the fourth, as QB Joseph Anile was nearly picked off for the second time in the quarter before finding senior Matt Virgilio for a 12-yard gain and Anile scoring the one-yard TD himself to cap a 65-yard drive.

The victory let Kellenberg advance to the AA championship game for the first time since 1995, where they will face Archbishop Stepinac.

"We're stiving to get to the triple-A level, to be a consistent triple-A team and it's a long road to get there," Hanitan said. "There's an elite end of our league that we all know is probably better than most; we've got to get to another level, we just want to be competitive with them and tonight we were very competitive."