It's Marist's turn to win vs. St. Viator

For the first time in five years, St. Viator found itself on the losing side against Marist as the Lions fell 41-14 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference football game Friday night in Chicago.

"They just wore us out," St. Viator coach Chris Kirkpatrick said. "We just couldn't get things going in the second half."

St. Viator (2-3, 0-3) dug itself a hole as the Lions fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter. Marist's Bill Seiler, who finished with 231 yards on 23 carries, scored on runs of 42 and 24 yards for the Redhawks (4-1, 2-1).

The Lions came back on a 57-yard pass from Julian Sipiora to Richard McLoughlin that moved the ball to the Marist 5. Two plays later, Sipiora connected with Dan Faerber for a 5-yard touchdown as the Lions closed to 14-7 with 9:39 left in the first half.

Marist made it 21-7 on its next possession on a 13-yard pass from Mike Perrish to Nick Valla.

St. Viator was able to climb back into the game late in the first half when Joe Peart recovered a bad snap at the Marist 38. Two plays later Sipiora connected with Jake Mastrangeli in the back of the end zone as the Lions closed to 21-14 just before the end of the half.

But that is as close as the Lions would come. Marist gave the Lions a strong dose of Seiler in the second half as the Redhawks pulled away.

"He is a tough runner," said St. Viator linebacker Sean Connerty, who finished with 9 tackles. "He is a little guy but has a lot of power."

Seiler would later score his third touchdown of the night on 38-yard run while St. Viator clearly missed running back Nick Niro for the second consecutive game with a high ankle sprain. The Lions finished the game by rushing for minus-7 yards on 10 carries.

"We just have to be able to run the ball better," Kirkpatrick said. "We will just have to keep working at it."