CHERRY TWP — Moniteau and St. Marys have a history of playing close games.

Friday was no exception.

For the third time in their last four meetings, the Warriors-Flying Dutch matchup was decided by a single point.

Moniteau sophomore quarterback Chance Nagy, making his first varsity start, came up short on a last second hail mary pass and gave visiting St. Marys a 26-25 victory. Nagy was brilliant early on, connecting on his first four pass attempts for 53, 42, 67, and 59 yards, the first three resulting in Moniteau touchdowns.

Nagy also added 59 yards on the ground for the Warriors.

Wade Vogan was pleased with Nagy’s play, despite the loss.

“He’s gonna be a player,” Vogan said. “I’m very proud of his play, and the best part is we still have him for two more years.”

St. Mary’s opened up the scoring when Christian Steffan, who left the game toward the end of the second quarter due to an injury, scored from 23 yards out to cap a seven play, 58 yard drive.

The lead was short lived, as the Warriors struck right back on the first play of their drive. After a botched on-side kick attempt, Moniteau began their drive at their own 47. Nagy promtly hit Dalton Anderson in stride down the left sideline for a 53-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 6-6.

St. Mary’s took over at their own 24 yard line, and proceeded to engineer the longest drive of the game for either team. Thirteen plays and six minutes later, quarterback Pat Schlimm scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to give his team the lead back, 12-6.

Later in the second quarter, Moniteau’s quick strike offense struck again. After a St. Mary’s punt, Nagy wasted no time as he hit Wyatt Geibel for a 42-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage after the punt. It was only Nagy’s second pass attempt of the game, but his second long touchdown pass. Both teams hit for long touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half. First Schlimm gave St. Mary’s the lead again, 18-13, by connecting on a 54-yard bomb, before Nagy hit for 67 yards to Anderson, capping off their third one-play scoring drive of the half. This gave Moniteau a 19-18 lead at the break.

The Flying Dutch regained the lead once more midway through the third quarter. Matt Marconi, who rushed 30 times for 120 yards, scored from 5 yards out to give St. Mary’s a 26-19 lead after the successful 2-point conversion.

The Warriors answered right back, needing two plays to score this time.

Nagy connected with Anderson for 59 yards. He was tripped up at the 1-yard line, which led to Nagy’s 1-yard quarterback sneak to get the Warriors within one. Steven Fawcett’s extra point attempt sailed wide left, which kept the Dutch in the lead.

St. Mary’s head coach, Anthony Defilippi had nothing but praise for his team, especially Marconi.

“He’s a workhorse,” Defilippi said. “Matt really stepped up when Christian (Steffan) was injured. This was a huge win for us and I’m proud of all of their efforts.”

Despite the loss, Vogan is optimistic.

“We still have eight weeks to go and I think this was a good way to start with our young team,” Vogan said. “You have to have a short memory in this game, and we’ll get back at it Tuesday and get ready for next week.”