Knights ramble past Walther

It's not often you see a football team win a game in which it attempts just 2 passes.

Then again, it's not often you see a football team rush as effectively as Immaculate Conception did on Saturday afternoon.

The Knights posted 367 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 51 carries, good for nearly 7.2 yards per tote in defeating Walther Lutheran 25-7 in Elmhurst.

After its opening drive collapsed on a lost fumble, Immaculate Conception (1-1) senior Paul Hornstra broke a pair of tackles and outran several Broncos defenders for a 42-yard score.

Not to be outdone, running back Carlos Rodriquez peeled off a 67-yard touchdown run just four and a half minutes later that gave the Knights a 12-7 advantage. It was the brawny junior's first of two touchdowns on the day, highlighting a 171-yard performance in his first varsity start.

While Immaculate Conception coach Bill Schmidt thinks his passing game is capable of quality play, he decided not to fix what wasn't broken.

"I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage, our guys up front did a great job, (and) we did some nice things with our quarterback option," Schmidt said. "We've just got to keep working on balancing the attack, but until a team forces you to throw the ball, we're going to keep trying to take 4 or 5 yards at a crack."

Knights quarterback Will Cronin will have a fresh arm to say the least heading into next week's conference opener against St. Edward. The 5-10 junior functioned more like a third tailback, picking up 43 rushing yards on 10 attempts.

"There's never going to be too much in the passing game," Cronin said, "so what I've got to do is just concentrate on making the right reads in the running game and do what I can to help out."

Immaculate Conception will enjoy its victory for the remainder of the weekend before getting right back to work.

"If you're going to win big football games, you've got to start putting the pressure on on Monday when you're talking about it all week," Schmidt said. "Otherwise you just can't flip the switch when you need it to happen."

Walther Lutheran's (1-1) lone score came on an impressive play by junior Logan Davis towards the end of the first quarter. The 5-11, 190 pound fullback caught a short pass from David Tuomi before bulldozing his way through a pile of would-be Knights tacklers for a 57-yard touchdown, giving the Broncos an early 7-6 lead.