St. Edward dumps Fenton
St. Edward got off to a quick start Friday night in a Metro Suburban Blue contest with Fenton at Greg True Field in Elgin.
The Green Wave scored 2 touchdowns in the first 4 minutes of the game to take a lead it never relinquished to beat the Bison, 55-21
An effective offensive front line combined with a stingy defense were keys to St. Edward's first conference victory of the season.
"Our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage pretty well," said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando. "When you do that, you can run the ball and throw the ball. It opens up a lot of different opportunities."
The front five continually opened holes for Wave running backs, who rushed for a total of 246 yards and gave quarterback Dylan Mlinarich plenty of time to pass. The senior QB completed 13 of 23 passes for a total of 332 yards.
St. Edward's defense intercepted 3 Kyle Cacioppo passes and effectively contained Dylan Butts, the Bison's main scoring threat, limiting him to 81 yards on 12 carries.
"We needed to stop him. He got one nice long run but other than that, I thought we bottled him up pretty well," Rolando said.
The Wave scored on its first drive of the game, ending an 8-play, 75-yard drive with a 20-yard pass from Mlinarich to Tyler Holte at the 9:26 mark of the first quarter. Fenton only completed 3 plays on its ensuing possession before Holte picked off the first Cacioppo pass.
It took St. Edward only one play - a 54-yard pass from Mlinarich to Ryan Pomeroy - to score its second TD with 8:14 left in the quarter.
Angel Garcia gave the Green Wave a 20-0 first quarter lead with a 4-yard run up the middle. The junior running back finished the night rushing for 115 yards on 15 carries.
St. Edward (4-2, 1-1) only needed 10 seconds in the second quarter to widen its lead to 27-0. Mlinarich connected with Holte again, this time for a 52-yard pass. Holte caught a total of 7 passes for 189 yards.
Fenton (2-4, 0-2) finally got on the scoreboard on a 25-yard pass from Cacioppo to Carlos Mercado, 2 minutes into the second quarter.
Garcia scored his second TD at the 8:03 mark of the second quarter on 11-yard run.
Butts scored for Fenton one of the few times the Green Wave could not stop the Bison back - he ran 51 yards to score a touchdown.
St. Edward led 41-14 at the half thanks to a 60-yard run by Nick Wright just before the second quarter ended.
The Wave widened its lead to 55-14 in the third quarter. The teams scored its seventh TD on a 40-yard pass from Mlinarich to Sidney Muhammad.
Anthony Holte crossed the goal line for last time for St. Edward when the sophomore linebacker picked off a Cacioppo pass and returned it 39-yards for a score.