ICCP likes offense's math

IC Catholic Prep's offense filled its Saturday afternoon with big numbers.

There were the 300 passing yards from the arm of sophomore quarterback Luke Ricobene, who spread the fun among seven receivers.

For the sake of balance, the Knights pounded the Evergreen Park defense for 258 yards on the ground, 189 from junior running back Jordan Rowell.

It all added up to a 56-28 Knights football victory at Lewis Field in Elmhurst.

"It was a great team win," said senior receiver/safety Patrick Jordan. "We've just got to fix up some things on the defensive side."

Rowell totaled 4 touchdowns rushing, and Ricobene picked out Patrick Jordan, Patrick Guinan and Andy Guzman for his 3 TD passes. Leonardo Guzman ended the Knights' scoring with a 2-yard TD run.

"Jordan had a heck of a day, Ricobene had a heck of a day, and you've got to give it up to the offensive line," Jordan said. "They killed it today."

The key blow might have been Guinan's 79-yard touchdown catch and run just 10.2 seconds before halftime. That made the score 28-7 and gave the game the feeling of a blowout.

"It really got us going going into the second half," Jordan said.

Evergreen Park looked good at the start, driving to the ICCP 3-yard line before turning the ball over with a fumble. The Mustangs took a brief 7-6 lead in the second quarter.

"That's a good football team over there," ICCP coach Bill Krefft said. "They're very athletic. Their kids fought hard. We're excited to have the opportunity to play them. They're a (Class) 4A school, made it to the playoffs the last two years."

Evergreen Park (1-1) tried to battle back in the second half, but each time the Mustangs scored, the Knights (1-1) added another 7 points on the scoreboard.

"Really a lot of credit has to go to the line," Krefft said, naming senior Jeremy Annicella, senior Jack Lamborn, senior Anthony Silva, senior Jesus Unzueta and junior captain Jim Kenneally. "Those kids really carried the day for us. We kind of put it on their shoulders ahead of time and they did an awesome job."

Jordan was one of several Knights playing offense and defense on a 90-degree day.

"We've been hydrating all week," he said, "so it wasn't too bad. But in the second half we had to rotate a couple of guys."

Guinan added a first-half interception that set up the Knights' first TD of the day.

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