St. Francis gives Marian Central a battle
St. Francis football coach Greg Purnell felt proud of his team after his Spartans jogged off the field for the last time Saturday afternoon, despite dropping a 30-21 decision to Marian Central to end their season.
"I'm really happy for our kids," Purnell said. "They hung in there after two midseason debacles and came back every week and just fought hard."
St. Francis (3-6, 2-5 Suburban Catholic Conference) dropped consecutive decisions to Montini and Driscoll by a combined score of 101-28, yet rebounded in Week 5 for a 51-28 victory over Aurora Central Catholic.
Though the Spartans were left playing for nothing but pride Saturday, they battled Marian Central to the final whistle.
St. Francis grabbed the game's first lead on its second possession of the first quarter, capitalizing on a short field to jump ahead 6-0.
Junior running back Stan Bobowski capped off the 13-play, 59-yard drive, powering into the end zone from 4 yards out.
Marian Central (7-2, 5-2) answered back swiftly, needing just 1:58 to knot the game at 6-6. Facing second-and-1 from the St. Francis 36-yard line, junior Jon Budmayr connected with wide receiver Jordan Peart, giving the duo their first of 2 touchdowns on the afternoon.
The game took on a see-saw motif from there, as neither team proved able to build a lead larger than 10 points.
Marian notched the game's only double-digit lead at the outset of the third quarter, driving 80 yards down the field for a 24-14 margin. Though Budmayr connected with Peart in the end zone yet again, the junior quarterback still felt a need to tighten up the Hurricanes' aerial attack.
"We've got to get a little sharper in the passing game," Budmayr said. "That's about it. I thought we ran the ball great today, and then my receivers came up with some big plays too. The line just opened up holes constantly. All day long, they were just giving those backs holes to run through."
Marian's offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage for a majority of the game, leading to 263 rushing yards and 403 total yards.
The victory sends Marian into the playoffs on a high note.
"We'll come back and play somebody we haven't played before hopefully, and we'll see what we can do," Marian coach Ed Brucker said. "As far as who we play, take a guess. We're just happy to be in, and we'll line up and play whoever shows up."