St. Edward defeats Wheaton Academy
One football team achieved its goal on Saturday at another's dire expense.
In the game to decide the Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division title, St. Edward beat Wheaton Academy 22-10 at West Chicago Community High.
Breaking out a wishbone attack behind its solid offensive line, St. Edward gained 338 yards rushing. Luke Duffy ran for touchdowns of 50 and 7 yards as the Green Wave earned its first conference title since 1978.
“It's fantastic,” lineman Evan Finnane said. “My brother (Shane) was part of the teams that were going 0-9, so to have this, going 7-2 and an SCC Gold championship, it's just fantastic.”
“This was our first goal,” said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando, whose squad moves to a second straight postseason for the first time in history.
“Our second goal is to win a playoff game and get home playoff football at Greg True Field. That's what we've got our sights set on right now,” he said.
In one fell swoop St. Edward (7-2, 5-0) eliminated the host Warriors from a share of the SCC Gold crown and from the playoffs as well.
Wheaton Academy (5-4, 3-2) knew its 35 playoff points were insufficient without a win. The Warriors joined 17 playoff-eligible teams shy of this season's 39-point cutoff.
“Things didn't turn out that well,” said Wheaton Academy senior Sam Cote, “but it's reassuring to know that we stayed together as a band of brothers, which was our goal. I wouldn't have traded it for anything to be out here with these guys.”
St. Edward's wishbone offered Wheaton Academy no luck at all, rumbling behind the line of Finnane, Derek Porto, Max Slizewski, Mark Sink and Zach Trisilla.
The Wave opened the scoring in six plays, Duffy dashing 50 yards around right end.
“We put in that new formation, two guys leading through the hole. That was our game plan, come out and pound the ball,” said Duffy, who ran for 105 yards to 134 for Jon Keokanlaya and 87 for Maurice Jackson.
Wheaton Academy answered on Tommy Decker's 10-yard quarterback draw to tie at 7-7, but a key second-quarter sequence gave St. Edward the lead for keeps.
The Wave marched downfield only to fumble at Wheaton Academy's 6-yard line. St. Edward's defense forced a punt, and Finnane blocked it with a beefy left forearm. The ball bounced through Wheaton Academy's end zone for a safety and a 9-7 St. Edward lead.
“I've been looking for that play all year,” Finnane said.
Receiving the subsequent kick and immediate field position, quarterback Ben Lehman converted three third-down opportunities. The last, third-and-21, was a 25-yard touchdown pass to Sam Pozezinski for a 16-7 lead at 5:16 before halftime.
Cote's 33-yard field goal cut St. Edward's halftime lead to 16-10, but despite Decker's 21 completions for 215 yards without an interception, Duffy's 7-yard run at 1:09 of the third quarter was the sole second-half scoring.
Wheaton Academy had an apparent Luke Thorson touchdown catch negated by penalty and couldn't connect on three other passes that could have found paydirt.
“We had penalties, we had mistakes that to be a conference champion that's not something you can do in a championship game,” said Warriors coach Ben Wilson. “But I'm proud of the way our guys played and hopefully our seniors will move on to great things.”