McCANDLESS TWP —Zack Rocco didn’t seem prepared for a quarterback duel with Ben Hughes.

The Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic sophomore quarterback struggled, missing on five of his first eight passes and throwing two interceptions.

“I just kept calm,” Rocco said. “I just had to stay calm. That’s all I could do.”

When it mattered, Rocco was the most accurate sharpshooter in North Park.

Rocco completed a key 25-yard pass to Nikhai Hill-Green on fourth-and-9 and found Joe Meinert for a two-point conversion to give the Trojans a 29-28 Midwestern Conference win Friday night at JC Stone Field.

Meinert scored a touchdown to bring North Catholic (6-2, 5-0) within one point with 1:03 remaining.

“I wanted to go for two,” said Rocco, who passed for 179 yards and threw three touchdown passes. “I thought we were going to get it. I knew we were going to get it. It was well-played by everyone.”

Battling for first place in the conference had Trojans coach Patrick O’Shea willing to take the risk.

“We said earlier ... that we were absolutely going to go for two out of respect for them,” Shea said. “At any moment it could have swung. Luckily, it swung in our favor.”

Few things went well for the Trojans in the first half. Riverside (6-1, 5-1) built two 14-point leads.

After the first five possessions were mostly uneventful, Riverside defensive back Conner McQuiston got things moving. He intercepted a Rocco pass at the North Catholic 46. Six plays later, Hughes hit Austin Dambach for a touchdown to put the Panthers ahead 7-0 with 1:29 left in the first quarter.

The Trojans’ next drive made it to the Riverside 16, but a sneak attempt by Rocco was stopped in the backfield on fourth-and-2.

A 58-yard pass from Hughes to Dambach got the Panthers down the field quickly. A reverse to Kyle Marweg on fourth-and-3 resulted in a 5-yard touchdown run that allowed Riverside to double its lead.

Rocco had an opportunity to display his throwing acumen less than a minute later. A pass to the corner of the endzone found Tyree Brown to cut the Trojans’ deficit to 14-6 heading into halftime.

“They came out tonight and were nervous,” O’Shea said. “They knew this was the best team we played so far and, physically, they a tough, blue-collar team. That gave our kids the jitters a little bit.”

The Panthers opened the second half with a 79-yard kickoff return by LeMarcus Cleckley. Noah Harris scored on a 5-yard run two plays later to put Riverside up 21-6.

That’s when Rocco and the Trojans found their stride.

Touchdown catches by Hill-Green and Brown had the game tied at 21 with 4:24 left in the third quarter.

The Panthers chewed up most of the fourth quarter with a 7 minute, 15 second drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Hughes to Harris.

Once North Catholic got the ball back, it had to score to have a shot at the conference title.

Following a few key conversions, Rocco found Meinert to give the Trojans a win.

An interception by Trojans defensive back Xavier Khoury provided North Catholic with a chance to breathe.

And celebrate taking the lead in the Midwestern Conference chase.

Riverside 7 7 7 7 — 28

CWNC 0 6 15 14 — 29

First Quarter

R — Austin Dambach 6 pass from Ben Hughes (Wyatt Ray kick), 1:29

Second Quarter

R — Kyle Marweg 4 run (Ray kick), 3:43

NC — Tyree Brown 24 pass from Zack Rocco (kick failed), 3:26

Third Quarter

R — Noah Harris 3 run (Ray kick), 10:55

NC — Nikhai Hill-Green 25 pass from Rocco (Brown pass from Rocco), 9:00

NC — Brown 26 pass from Rocco (Max Kunzman kick), 4:24

Fourth Quarter

R — Harris 16 pass from Hughes (Ray kick), 4:45

NC — Joe Meinert 12 run (Meinert pass from Rocco), 1:03

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Riverside, LeMarcus Cleckley 9-84, Noah Harris 21-60, Dambach 6-50, Marweg 1-5, Nic Ottaviani 2-5, Hughes 4-(-10). CWNC, Joe Meinert 21-105, Rocco 8-25, Cameron Branch 3-5

Passing: Riverside, Hughes 7-18-123-2. CWNC, Rocco 14-21-179-2

Receiving: Riverside, Dambach 4-84, Marweg 2-50, Harris 1-16, Cleckley 1-3. CWNC, Brown 5-92, Hill-Green 2-48, Ryan Maziarz 3-34, Meinert 2-22, Branch 1-19, Rashod Allen 1-4