Dominic Cangolosi was thrust into the thick of things this week.

The senior quarterback was put into the starting role after a season ending injury to Beau Bryant in the regular season final against Paetow. It was a tough situation, Cangolsoi had to come in cold after only seeing very limited reps over the past month and be ready for the playoffs.

But it was something that Cangolosi was ready for. Even after losing the quarterback battle to Bryant earlier in the season, he had kept his head up, kept working, kept encouraging his teammates and kept himself ready for any opportunity he was needed.

When that time came and he had to be ready for the playoffs this week, he stepped up. Cangolosi threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns while competing 16 of 23 passes and adding over 100 rushing yards in Jordan’s 22-14 bi-district win over Foster, putting together the best game of his career in the biggest time.

“I can’t say enough about Dom, he did a great job,” said Jordan head coach Mike Rabe. “He’s prepared the same way all year. When he was getting a bunch of reps early in the year, he prepared the right way, when Beau had taken over, his demeanor never changed. He kept competing and he was ready for the moment. He played so well tonight and he can keep building off of that.”

A big part of Cangolosi’s success was getting Jordan’s most dangerous weapon involved immediately. The Warriors went right down the field on the first drive of the game and scored in seven plays. Three of those seven plays were passes from Cangolosi to Marsh and that first drive got both of them going early. It was just like old times for both the quarterback and wide receiver, who have known each other and have been playing with each other for a decade. That connection showed throughout the whole game, as Marsh had his career high in catches with 11, while he caught both of Jordan’s touchdowns and had 149 yards receiving in total, his second most yards of the season and his most since the season opener.

“Dom held it down, I’m proud of my guy,” Marsh said. “He came in and picked up right where he left off and we were firing on all cylinders. He’s a guy that I’ve played with for a very long time and I’m very comfortable with him. I’m just happy to see him on the field and playing as well as he did tonight.”

The pair got extra work in all week leading up to the game, fine tuning the timing on throws and routes and making sure they would be on the same page come game time. It paid off hugely in the first round as the two helped propel Jordan’s offense to its 22 points.

“Those two stayed after practice every day this week to make sure they were back in rhythm with each other,” Rabe said. “They’ve both been here and seen the ups and downs. To see them go out there and connect like they did tonight was really rewarding.”

The Warriors will need more of the same from both as they hope to continue their playoff run this week against Stratford, and both Cangolosi and Marsh want to make sure this thing keeps going.

“It’s a great feeling to get this first playoff win,” Cangolosi said. “I’ve been with these guys for over four years, I’ve been with Andrew for over 10 and this is what we dreamed of. It’s awesome, but the job isn’t done. We aren’t satisfied.”