Benet 25, St. Viator 23
Wells Lifka transferred from Memphis, Tenn., to Benet this off-season and admitted Friday's weather had him freezing.
But when the Redwings kicker drove a 22-yard field goal long and true with 4:37 to play, the transplanted Tennessean warmed the hearts of every Benet fan in attendance at this year's homecoming game at Benedictine University's football field with a 25-23 Redwings victory against St. Viator.
Lifka's kick put Benet (1-3, 1-1) ahead one final time in the East Suburban Catholic Conference contest -- a lead that held up for the Redwings for their first win of the season.
Lifka said he knew the kick was good even though he never watched it head through the uprights.
"Always keep your head down and listen for the crowd," Lifka said. "I've kicked hundreds of kicks. I was well prepared for that."
Lifka stressed that the victory wasn't all due to his heroics, though picking heroes on this night encompassed many in the home uniforms.
Through a ball-controlled first half, Dan McGue provided the tough yards the Redwings needed to preserve a 16-6 halftime lead.
McGue, the team's senior fullback, finished with 103 yards on 22 carries. And though he didn't score any touchdowns, he set up plenty of Benet points.
"It was just that the line was so fired up," McGue said. "There were holes everywhere. You can run forever behind these guys when they get going."
St. Viator (3-1, 1-1) seemed to have made most of the correct adjustments at halftime, scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half and finally taking the lead with 8:48 to play when quarterback Eric Huber ran in from 2 yards.
Huber finished the game with 150 yards on 26 carries and scored 3 rushing touchdowns, though the game ended the Lions' perfect start to the season.
"It's nothing we did," St. Viator coach Chris Kirkpatrick said. "We got outcoached and we got outplayed. You tip your hat to Benet and you go on. We tried, but in the end, it didn't work."
Benet rallied thanks to effective work by quarterback Jimmy Riley. The junior ran for 1 TD and passed for another, and engineered the drive that ended in Lifka's game-winning kick.
"We came in here with so much momentum," Riley said. "The coaches told us we had to win this game to get to the playoffs. That's what we did. We walked in and were so jacked up. It was fun."
Key in the drive that led to Lifka's kick was a 41-yard reception by Ben Menconi that set up the Redwings inside the St. Viator 5.
St. Viator came back and got the ball inside the Benet 10, but saw a last-minute field go wide and Benet survived.
Benet's defense stopped St. Viator when it had to, and came away with a pair of fumble recoveries, one by Phil Schmidt and the other by Jason Wirth.