St. Viator 26, Notre Dame 21
Living in Mount Prospect and attending St. Emily, Notre Dame quarterback Zach Abraham is familiar with quite a few St. Viator football players.
So Notre Dame's Homecoming game Friday night in Niles took on even more significance for Abraham, who was able to catch up with old school friends after the game.
And he was sure tough to catch for Viator defenders in the first half.
The often-elusive 5-foot-9 senior threw touchdown passes of 68 yards to Greg Lucchesi and 56 yards to Ryan Irwin, also of Mount Prospect and St. Emily, to lead the Dons to a 26-21 lead at the intermission.
The score never changed in the second half of the East Suburban Catholic Conference battle.
"If you would have told me (at half) no one was going to score in the second half, I certainly would have taken that bet," said Dons coach Mike Hennessey.
"To our defense's credit, they put up a great stand. Our defensive coordinator (Dan DeFranza) made some great adjustments and did a nice job switching us from a straight package to a nickel and dime. He wanted more speed on the field and that made a difference."
Tim Swieton's 17-yard run gave Notre Dame (5-1, 2-1) a 26-7 lead with 8:50 left in the half.
But Lions senior workhorse Mike Landuyt (3 touchdowns, 139 yards on 36 carries) ran for 2- and 1-yard touchdowns in the final four minutes to cut the deficit.
In between scores, Lions kicker Kevin Hulesbosch recovered his own onside kick.
"Mike ran hard and our offensive line (Matt O'Malley, Joe Fliss, Ryan Fedyna and Dan Schatz) did a nice job for him," said Lions two-way lineman Emmett Cleary. "Notre Dame's defense bent but never broke. They kept us out of the end zone in the second half.
"We made some prudent defensive adjustments in the second half. But we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties (9-for-60)."
"Penalties killed us," echoed Lions coach Chris Kirkpatrick, whose team is 3-3 and 1-2. "We've got something to work with now. We've just got to keep playing like we are."
Lions QB Dan Faerber was 10-of-22 for 221 yards. Eric Huber caught 6 passes for 128 yards.
Abraham was 10-of-21 for 258 yards.
"My offensive line and receivers did a great job," said Abraham, whose father played football for the Dons. "They were blitzing a lot in the first half but we were able to overcome it.
This was a confidence-builder for us. We're going to Joliet Catholic next and that will be a tough game."
Proviso E. 40, Leyden 7:ΠLeyden (4-2, 3-1) couldn't overcome one of its big hurdles as it lost to Proviso East for the seventh straight time in the West Suburban Gold.
The Eagles were hoping to put themselves in position to clinch their first playoff berth since 1998.
"It was just one of those nights," said Eagles coach Tom Cerasani, whose team hosts Lyons next Saturday.
The bright spot for Leyden was senior running back Josh Serrano with 193 yards on 45 carries.