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Brother Rice too tall a task for Montini

There was an impressive fireworks display prior to Friday's Chicago Catholic League Blue showdown between Brother Rice and host Montini, worthy of July 4.

And then the fireworks really started, courtesy of Crusaders quarterback John Bean.

The 6-foot, 190-pound quarterback rushed for 142 yards on 15 carries, including touchdown runs of 39, 23 and 7 yards. Plus, he threw a 9-yard scoring pass to senior receiver Dylan Summers.

Montini, on the other hand, only mustered 100 total yards of offense, 65 coming on the legs of junior quarterback Deontay Bell.

The result was reflective: Brother Rice 31, Montini 0.

"He's a great player and great players make great plays, and he did," Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said of Bean. "We were going to take a chance there and try to gamble and get a stop a couple of times and he made a better play than we did.

"He's a great player and we knew that coming in and that's why they are the team they are. That's something we need to do a better job of."

Early on, it looked like the game would be a defensive chess match. There was no score until the 8:08 mark of the second quarter, but that's when the floodgates opened, courtesy of Bean's footwork. On a fourth-and-1, he took the ball, darted up the middle and just kept going, not quitting until he hit paydirt.

Later in the period, Montini fumbled on its own 9-yard line. That's when Bean connected with Summers in the left corner of the end zone.

Turns out, that's all Brother Rice (9-0, 4-0) needed. The Crusaders piled up 373 total yards and defensively held the Broncos to just 29 in the first half.

"I think it starts up front on both sides of the ball, and I think we felt really comfortable going into the game that we could control the line of scrimmage, and obviously, when Johnny is your general, good things are going to happen," Brother Rice coach Brian Badke said.

Bell, who had a 41-yard run in the game, said it's important to put this game to rest as soon as possible.

"We've got to move forward," Bell said. "We've got playoffs starting next week. We've got to come out strong and we can't let this affect how we play next week."

The Broncos only managed 4 first downs in the contest and had just 7 total yards passing. Montini lost a fumble and got picked off in the end zone early in the third quarter when the game was still in doubt.

On Brother Rice's ensuing drive, Bean marched the Crusaders 80 yards on 13 plays, resulting in a 23-yard touchdown run. He added a 7-yard run later.

Senior running back Nick Fedanzo added 19 yards on 16 carries for Montini (8-1, 3-1).

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