Matt Dieguez's TD toss to Pat Bruno a winning combination for Chaminade against Holy Trinity

The start was painfully slow — three games, three losses. But the Flyers from Chaminade have really taken off since then — four games, four wins. 

This CHSFL AAA team mostly contained AA I power Holy Trinity Saturday, a team that arrived with seven wins in seven tries. 

Matt Dieguez’s 33-yard touchdown toss to Pat Bruno late in the third quarter gave Chaminade the lead, and it held on for a 10-7 road victory. 

The Flyers are thinking about making more noise with one game left before the playoffs kick off. 

“We’re still the underdogs,” said Dieguez, their senior quarterback, who threw for 136 yards. “No one thinks highly of us, especially this offense. Everyone knows our defense is good. But our offense still has so much to prove. This was a huge win.” 

This loss for Holy Trinity came in its regular-season finale.

"It is not hard to swallow," Titans coach Kahmal Roy said. "What happens in this game is somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. ... I know our kids. Our kids are going to take this. They're going to learn from it. We're going to teach from it. And we're going to be better for the playoffs." 

The loss also came with a sobering injury early in the final quarter.  

The Titans' Josiah Brown made a 10-yard reception, then took a helmet-to-helmet hit. The standout junior receiver/defensive back went down and didn’t get back up. The game was halted for several minutes. An ambulance finally arrived to take him to the hospital. 

“He seemed OK,” Roy said. “His head was hurting. He was able to move his extremities."

Chaminade trailed, 7-3, when Dieguez threw deep down the left side to Bruno. The ball came loose after the catch, but it was ruled that the senior receiver had possession long enough. 

“I’ve been having a rough season so far,” Bruno said, “so I knew I needed to make a play to flip the narrative.” 

Charlie Battaglia made plays for Chaminade on Rocco Rainone’s first two passes, picking them off. 

“I felt like I was the best wide receiver on their team,” the senior linebacker said, jokingly. “It felt good.” 

The Flyers turned one interception into a 28-yard field goal by Tim Tomlinson.  

The Titans then took a 7-3 advantage. Jameer Reeder rushed 4 yards for a score early in the second quarter. But that was it for their offense. Andre Kirton ran a punt back 84 yards to the end zone for them with 4:21 to go, but it was negated by a penalty.  

“Our defense has been sharp all year,” Chaminade coach Kevin Dolan said. “Mike Dolce … he’s the best defensive coordinator I’ve ever worked with in 34 years. Mike puts everybody in the right spots.”