IC outlats Cadets in frenetic 4th

For three quarters Immaculate Conception and Marmion waged a defensive battle.

Then the fourth quarter began.

The two teams combined for 56 points over the final 12 minutes, including 3 touchdowns in a span of 1:14, before the Knights (4-3, 3-2) held on for dear life down the stretch to pull out a 40-38 Suburban Catholic Conference triumph over the host Cadets (2-5, 0-5) Saturday afternoon in Aurora.

"All heck did break loose," said Knights coach Bill Schmidt of the frenetic fourth quarter.

Trailing 33-32 with less than two minutes remaining and down to their last timeout, the Cadets defense deliberately allowed quarterback Will Cronin to run 15 yards untouched into the end zone on a second-and-3 play. Olivia Vatch's PAT kick extended the Knights' lead to 40-32 but also gave the Cadets one final chance to tie the game.

"We let them score," said Marmion coach Dan Thorpe.

"I think our quarterback (Cronin) was so surprised," Schmidt said. "We wanted to get a first down and we were going to take a knee from there on out. All of a sudden it was like, 'here you go.'

"Will just saw open space and said, 'I'm going to score a touchdown.' We'll talk about being football IQ smart. All we needed was a first down. We take a knee; they can't stop it and game's over.

"It does go against conventional thinking, as does just letting him walk into the end zone."

After being held to just 78 first-half yards rushing, the Knights completely dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half with 337 yards on the ground.

Junior fullback Carlos Rodriguez, who carried the ball just 1 time in the first half, picked up 195 second-half yards and 3 touchdowns on 14 carries as he fueled the Knights' second-half ground attack.

"I didn't think I was actually going to go in on offense," Rodriguez said. "They were trying out Rob Peachy, but he got injured."

Rodriguez, a 5-11, 210-pounder, scored 3 fourth-quarter TDs on runs covering 8, 65 and 51 yards. Teammate Paul Hornstra added 182 yards and a pair of 27-yard TD runs on 23 carries.

"That's the beauty of our offense," Schmidt said. "We can do variations of blocking schemes to take advantage of what they're doing.

"The bottom line was that our offensive line got off the ball. We won the line of scrimmage and when you win up front, you're going to win some ballgames."

Marmion, which took its only lead when QB Ricky Bird hit Sean Fichtel for 65 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage, rallied from a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit to pull within 33-32 on Bird's 76-yard scoring strike to Matt Pircon with 4:21 left.

After the Knights' "gift" TD, Bird tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Fichtel to make it 40-38 with 24.4 seconds remaining.

But Bird's 2-point pass was intercepted by sophomore defensive back Jose Godinez, and the Knights recovered the onside kick to seal their first victory in four years over Marmion.

"Give them credit - they were able to make some plays," Schmidt said. "They did a real nice job of moving the football in the second half."

So did the Knights, who enjoyed a 121-9 offensive edge and 10:06-1:54 time of possession advantage in the third quarter.

"They beat us," Thorpe said. "As I've said for the third, fourth week in a row, I'm proud of our kids.

"We're out of the playoffs (at 2-5), so now it's just for pride."