Notre Dame’s James tames Lions in decisive win
What started so promisingly turned into a very rough evening for St. Viator.
For the most part, they had Notre Dame running back Chris James to thank for that.
James rushed for 268 yards and scored 6 touchdowns as the Dons defeated the Lions 49-20 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference matchup in Niles.
“He’s a special player,” said Viator coach Brandon New of James. “He’s the second best running back — maybe the best — in our conference. He’s lightning fast.”
“I have to give all of the credit to our offensive line, and our offensive coordinator,” said James, a junior. “He called the right plays.”
There were no thoughts that the contest would get away from the Lions when quarterback Bobby Calmeyn connected to senior wide receiver John Balas on a 47-yard bomb on the game’s very first play.
Two snaps later running back Mayo Arogundade scored on a twisting 14-yard run to give Viator (3-2, 1-2) the early 7-0 lead, and even after James scored from 1 and 23 yards out, the Lions were able to tie the game on a 14-yard Calmeyn to Balas TD pass.
Then the barrage started.
James had a 14 yard touchdown run and caught a 19 yard TD pass from quarterback Dan Nagode to give the Dons a 28-14 halftime lead.
And with the Lions generating very little second half offense, Notre Dame got 3 and 95 yard scoring runs from James, and a one yard plunge by Matt Galloway, to put the game away.
Viator’s final scoring play came on a 5 yard touchdown toss from backup quarterback Tyler Johnston to Brent Piechocki.
“We got outphysicaled tonight,” said New. “This was a one-sided game.”
Calmeyn completed 14 passes for 150 yards while Balas had three receptions for 98 yards.
Arogundade rushed 11 times for 77 yards including a beautiful 41-yard cutbak run, but it was all for naught as the Lions couldn’t stop James.
“We were flat in the locker room,” said New, “and flat when we came out on to the field.”
“As coaches, that’s something you always worry about — when you have a big win like we did last week in our comeback against Carmel, sometimes you can have a big letdown.”
“I think we felt a little too good about ourselves.”