No. 10 St. Edward has easy time in Rockford

ROCKFORD - It's hard to tell what's more impressive: St. Edward's offense or its defense. The offense rolled up 42 points and exactly 400 yards while the defense pitched a shutout and scored a touchdown of its own.

It all added up to a 49-0 victory Friday night against Rockford Lutheran for the 10th-ranked Green Wave.

Everyone contributed for the Wave (2-0) in the nonconference game. Ben Lehman completed 12 of 22 passes for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Freshman DeVontae Elam ran for a pair of touchdowns. Sam Pozezinski had 4 catches for 89 yards and a score. Jon Keokanlaya ran for 96 yards and a score, and Luke Duffy returned a punt for a touchdown.

Maurice Jackson and Matt Brockner also scored for St. Edward, which begins conference play next week against Immaculate Conception.

St. Edward led 21-0 after one quarter and 35-0 at halftime as the Wave dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides.

"The line did a tremendous job of blocking, the receivers were getting open, and people were making plays all over the field," said Lehman.

The young St. Edward defense certainly made a statement, holding the Crusaders to 96 total yards and 6 first downs.

"That's huge," said Wave coach Mike Rolando. "That's only our second (shutout) in 5 years and 2 games. They're hard to come by, and to have all those juniors on the defense. That was the only question mark coming in, with all those nice seniors leaving last year. The defense saved us last week when our offense sputtered a little bit, and they stepped up again tonight."

The Wave punted for the only time all night on their first possession. When they got the ball back, Keokanlaya set the tone for the night by breaking through up the middle for a 61-yard score.

"I think our offense was a little disappointed in their performance last week and I think they wanted to come out and just show that they know how to play," said Rolando.