Rutkowski, St. Francis deny St. Edward playoff bid
All it took was a look between St. Francis senior quarterback Nick Donati and senior running back Jeff Rutkowski to put the final nail in St. Edward’s playoff coffin.
The Spartans were already in full control of the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division tilt. They led by four touchdowns and had the ball at the St. Edward 39-yard line with 2.8 seconds left in the second quarter when Donati sent three receivers plus Rutkowski on streak routes to the end zone.
Before the ball was snapped Donati said he turned toward Rutkowski and “I gave him a little look.”
Seconds later Rutkowski crossed the goal line with his second touchdown catch of the night, courtesy of an in-stride pass up the seam from Donati. Rutkowski also rushed for touchdowns of 31 and 6 yards to pace the Spartans in a 49-21 victory over the Green Wave at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn Friday.
Three of Donati’s 7 completed passes went to Rutkowski for 72 yards.
“We’ve played together for four years, so I know when he’s going to throw the ball to me,” Rutkowski said. “It just comes down to chemistry.”
“I just gave him a look and I knew he was going to cut it to the middle of the field,” Donati said. “Like he said, there’s that chemistry.”
The victory gives St. Francis (7-2, 3-2) better odds of being a playoff host when pairings are announced today.
“I’m just so proud of our kids,” St. Francis coach Greg Purnell said. “We only start four or five seniors and a couple of them are banged up right now. Our kids have really had a great three or four weeks. We played well against Montini but we didn’t score. In the last three weeks we’ve come out and put the ball in the end zone. We’re excited about heading into the playoffs.”
The defeat ended the playoff push for St. Edward (4-5, 1-4), which was seeking to reach the postseason for a record third straight season. The Green Wave moved up to the SCC Blue Division this season after winning the less competitive SCC Gold last year.
St. Edward opened the season 4-1 but failed to challenge any of its final four state-ranked SCC opponents: Marian Central, Montini, Aurora Christian or St. Francis, the latter of which entered the regular-season finale ranked No. 10 in Class 5A.
“We didn’t want to lose like this, but we wanted the competition,” said St. Edward four-year lineman Evan Finnane, who will now choose between offers from Air Force and Army. “We didn’t want to go through last year’s schedule just beating up on everybody. We wanted to play some real players, have some fun and play some real competition for once. It was a good year.”
The Green Wave allowed 20 touchdown passes against their final four opponents.
“We were a good team for several games this year, but when we came up against some great opponents we just weren’t that good,” St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said.
St. Francis won with a balanced attack. The rushing yards were spread between Rutkowski (59), Donati (60), junior Jack Petrando (55) and junior Dan Beck (30). Donati completed 7 of 11 attempts for 136 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“It was a group effort,” Rutkowski said. “The offense played great and our defense has been rolling since Marmion. We’re really coming together and we’re going to make a run. It’s going our way.”
Senior Bob French completed 13 of 27 attempts for 282 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Johnson, a 17-yard touchdown to Matt Brockner and a 68-yard scoring strike to Luke Duffy in the fourth quarter. Duffy made 6 receptions for 138 yards.