Notre Dame battles past Benet

Benet came out strong in Friday's East Suburban Catholic Conference showdown against Notre Dame at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The Redwings' quick strike offense put the hosts up late in the first quarter but that early momentum wasn't enough to top the Dons, who got some key scores of their own en route to capturing a hard-fought 29-14 victory.

"Notre Dame is a really good football team," said Benet coach Pat New. "We knew they were going to be tough. All the credit goes to them. We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities."

Leading the way for Notre Dame (3-0, 1-0) was do-it-all player Tim Simon. At wide receiver he caught 8 passes for 149 yards, including a 65-yard reception for a score. He also kicked field goals of 40, 23 and 20 yards.

"He is a super talented kid," said Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey. "He has the 'It' factor and knows how to put it on display. He plays with a lot of calm, cool and confidence."

Dons running back Jimmy Topping also ran for 122 yards on 15 carries including a 73-yard touchdown jaunt that proved to be one of the decisive plays in the game. He also scored from 3 yards out.

For Benet (2-1, 0-1), its combo of quarterback Jack Sznajder to wideout Karl Schmidt was clicking well. On the first play of the game the pair connected for a play that went 43 yards but unfortunately the Redwings ended up turning over the ball on a fumble.

This dynamic duo went back to work late in the first quarter. On a misdirection play from the Notre Dame 14-yard line, Sznajder rolled to his left and threw a perfect strike across his body to Schmidt, who made a sweet over-the-shoulder catch in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

Notre Dame, however, countered two plays later when quarterback Tyler Tsagalis hit Simon down the sideline for the long touchdown pass.

Benet made things interesting early in the fourth quarter. Sznajder marched the team downfield by connecting on some timely passes to wide receivers Robert Bordignon and Will O'Grady. Running back Marty Dosen then capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 20-14 with 10:48 left in the game.

As they had done in the first quarter, the Dons had an answer two plays later when Topping busted free through the middle of the defense for the 73-yard scoring run a mere 40 seconds later.

"I thought we had a chance," New said. "Too bad we let that big score up. We could have taken advantage of that momentum. (The game) is one of those things where you have to go back and learn from it and get better next week."