St. Edward dumps Metamora
With a healthy run game at its disposal, the intent this year for the St. Edward football team isn't to throw the ball 40-plus times as it did last year.
And after a huge 44-26 nonconference win over Class 5A power Metamora at Greg True Field in Elgin Friday, the Green Wave, with a roster of 23, discovered they won't need to throw it 40 times; they can run up as much passing yards with just a fraction of the throws.
Returning All-State quarterback Dylan Mlinarich, who broke every passing record there is at St. Edward last year, threw just a minuscule 16 times against the No. 7 ranked team in 5A and still nearly totaled 400 yards.
The senior connected with 4 different receivers for 396 yards and 5 touchdowns, including 3 to receiver Saveon Smith who totaled 160 yards on 6 grabs, as Mlinarich's first 2 passes of the game went for scores.
"It was just the balance that we didn't have last year," said Mlinarich, who saw 37 running plays called. "I was throwing forty, sixty times last year and they were dropping eight guys in coverage. And it was tough but now this year with Angel Garcia, who's such a great running back and our offensive line, proves to us and the other teams that we are stronger and run or pass the ball anytime we want and we are going to be successful on it."
A healthy Garcia ran 20 times for 99 yards as the run game added 179 to the Green Wave's 575 total yards compared to Metamora's 306, but Smith and Tyler Holte provided all the highlights.
Holte helped St. Edward (1-0) to a quick 7-0 lead when he caught a pass at the Redbirds' 25 on the second Wave offensive play and turned on the jets for a 40-yard score.
On the Wave's next series, it took 5 plays until Smith beat his defender over the top and hauled in a 56-yard touchdown grab to make it 14-0 St. Edward with 5:25 left in the first quarter.
Smith would strike again with 8:13 left in the second quarter, when Mlinarich avoided a tackle in the pocket, stepped outside and connected with Smith on 4th and 5 with a 28-yard touchdown grab for a 21-0 lead.
"That was like a Christmas present," Smith said of the big lead at that point. "It felt real good for the team and it hyped us up a lot. Coach (Marc Rusinko) said be the hunter or the hunted and we were the hunters."
The Wave hunted down 2 more scores, even after the Redbirds (0-1) closed within 28-19 in the third quarter. Holte, who made 3 grabs for 180 yards along with 2 touchdowns, made a one-handed grab with his left hand down the left sideline to start the Wave's second third quarter drive that went for 65-yards, setting up Garcia's 11-yard run a player later for a 35-19 lead.
Holte's pick with 17.6 left in the third on his own 38 that he returned to the Redbird 30 resulted in a 31-yard field from David Madden with 9:28 left in the fourth and for good measure Smith scored over the top from 33-yards out to make it 44-19. The Green Wave picked up 3 turnovers in total, allowed just 2 touchdowns to Bryton McDonald (9 catches, 84 yards) and picked off Metamora QB Thomas Hall (15-for-27, 169 yards) twice.
"We're pretty happy with the turnovers but there's some things we have to clean up," Holte said. "But it's awesome. We've got the bread and butter with the passing game. the running game is coming along. the O-line is looking great so it's awesome."
And what about coach Mike Rolando's take?
"We didn't know we if we could compete at that level (against Metamora) and now that we know we can, it gives us the confidence the rest of the season," he said.