In a tense finish, BC High (4-4, 1-1) stopped the Hawks on a fourth and 1 with 16 seconds left, and a 30-yard pass from Brendan Collins to Brandon Cippola followed by a spike set up a Hail Mary situation with two ticks on the clock. However, the strong wind that fueled a cold night knocked the ball down short of the goal line, where Xaverian’s Chris Tamasi intercepted it to end the suspense.

“I thought we really dominated the second half,’’ said Xaverian coach Charlie Stevenson.

Xaverian (9-0, 2-0) unleashed its punishing rushing attack after halftime, breaking a scoreless tie with two third-quarter touchdowns.

The first came when the Hawks took advantage of a poorly executed onside kick attempt to open the third quarter. Xaverian went 64 yards on seven rushes, culminating in a 7-yard touchdown by Tamasi, giving the Hawks a 7-0 lead.

Joe Colton tacked on 6 more on the next drive with a 36-yard scoring run, the longest Xaverian play of the game. It was set up by a 32-yard pass from Alex Phelan to Mike Muir. Colton finished with 122 yards on 24 carries.

“We got to a little bit of a slow start, but we came out on fire in the second half,’’ said Tamasi, who dedicated his touchdown to his grandfather who died only days ago.

Jules Murphy missed a third-quarter field goal from 31 yards out that would have iced things, but the damage was done thanks to the 6 1/2 minutes Xaverian chewed up with the drive.

BC High took over and marched 80 yards for its only score of the game. Outside of a pass interference call, every yard was gained on the arm of Collins. His 19-yard pass to Nick Joseph brought the Eagles within a score, but the onside kick was scooped up by Xaverian’s Ryan Farrell.

Though unable to put up points, BC High controlled the first half. The Eagles’ defense allowed only 30 yards of offense and zero completions, and the Hawks shot themselves in the foot twice on penalties.

The Hawks had one trip into BC High territory, starting at the Eagles 38 after a 12-yard punt. Xaverian managed to creep to the 28, but two incompletions on third- and fourth-and-long ended the threat.

Offensively, the Eagles were able to move the ball with some efficiency before halftime.

On their second possession, the defending Division 1 champions used a 13-play drive to move 61 yards, converting on three third-down conversions thanks to Collins.

Mike Durant came out for a 38-yard field goal attempt, but the kick was blocked by Kevin Ihlefeld, who was in on a number of tackles in the backfield.