It’s been seven years since Nick Giannatasio inherited the barren wasteland that was Moore Catholic football, a program that had been defunct since 2012.

“When I got here, I wanted to establish a culture. There was nothing here, it was blank,” recalled the head coach. “The first thing we needed to do was find kids who were super committed, who would buy into what we were doing. The DNA of the Moore Catholic player was going to be someone who was physically and mentally tough.

“They needed to be desperate every practice. We needed to cultivate that sense of desperation.”

Giannatasio began working toward that goal immediately, and it paid off with a CHSFL A championship win over Cardinal Spellman that first season back in 2016.

Moore hasn’t stopped producing desperate players since, culminating with another appearance in a title game after Saturday’s 28-0 rout of visiting Xavier in Graniteville.

The Mavericks (6-2 conference, 7-4 overall) advance to face the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal contest between St. John the Baptist and St. Peter’s on Nov. 18 at Fordham University in the Bronx.

The berth in the CHSFL AA-1 championship marks the fourth straight time Moore has qualified for a league final. Talk about establishing a winning tradition.

Moore took control early, as senior cornerback Damon Stewart Jr. forced a fumble from the Knights’ Joshua Paduani that the Mavs recovered at the Xavier 32 late in the first quarter. Moments later, the first of R.J. Pacheco’s three touchdown runs on the overcast afternoon and Giovanni Bennardo’s PAT kick gave Moore a 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, one of the Knights’ better drives ended with a missed field goal. Two plays later, Pacheco exploded for a 79-yard TD run and 14-0 edge with 3:44 left in the half.

“Our O-line did a great job today,” said Pacheco. “It feels great knowing we have a chance to come home with a ring this year. Our success is due to our physical and mental toughness because other teams have a lot more guys than us.”

The Mavs delivered the knockout blow right before the intermission as a William Cosidente III interception set up a touchdown pass from Moore freshman quarterback Tommy Zeh to Boakai Veikai, who soared to catch the ball in traffic then slashed his way up the middle for a 21-0 advantage with just 27.5 seconds to go.

“[Veikai] was his fourth read,” marveled Giannatasio about his frosh QB.

Another 79-yard TD jaunt by Pacheco on the second play of the second half iced the win, but it might have been the first play of the fourth quarter that summed up the afternoon. In a rare mistake, Moore had its punt blocked — but lineman Michael Cybulski caught the carom on the fly and rumbled for the first down.

“We had a breakdown somewhere, but credit the kids,” said Giannatasio, whose defense secured its third shutout of the season when Xavier’s Mehdi Merah was stopped 2 yards shy of the goal line on the final play. “They’re opportunistic.”

NOTES: The Knights (5-3, 7-4) moved down to the MC 10 before running out of time to end the first half. … In 2019, Moore defeated St. Joseph by-the-Sea for the CHSFL AA-2 crown. After Covid wiped out the postseason the following year, the Mavs reached the AA-1 championship the past two seasons, losing to Chaminade in 2021; and falling to Holy Trinity last November.