Big second half carries St. Francis past Nazareth
Bob McMillen had a crucial decision to make.
Nazareth had just cut his team's double-digit lead to three and his St. Francis football team faced a fourth-and-12 from the Nazareth 45-yard line late in the third quarter.
"We've had the mantra all season where we're going to take the chance," McMillen said. "We trust our guys ... you either end up the hero or the bad guy in a situation like that."
McMillen pushed the right button as standout quarterback Alessio Milivojevic found DeShaun Williams for a 42-yard gain to start a game-changing sequence for St. Francis in what turned out to be a decisive 35-17 victory over Nazareth Friday night.
TyVonn Ransom scored from three yards out on the very next play, which snatched the momentum back for the St. Francis defense. The Spartans then got a fourth-down stop on Nazareth's next drive, and one play later Milivojevic found Ian Willis for his first of two second-half touchdowns to quickly stretch the lead back to 28-11.
From Ransom's score to Willis's score, a total of 41 seconds of game time elapsed. The Spartans relied heavily on its dual-threat offense as Ransom carried the ball 27 times for 113 yards and Willis had 133 receiving yards in the win. Both scored twice in Friday's victory.
After a slow moving first half saw St. Francis take a 7-3 lead into halftime, the Spartans (7-2, 2-1 CCL/ESCC Orange) scored on each of its first four second half possessions to take control and push the defending Class 5A state champion's season to the brink.
The Roadrunners (4-5, 1-2) will now wait and hope their playoff point total is enough to clinch a spot in the IHSA playoffs.
"You have to give St. Francis a lot of credit. They are so well coached," Nazareth coach Tim Racki said. "I'm going to go in my office and see what else is going on and see what's what. I hope we get in and that'd be great, but I really don't know at this point. It's disappointing, but it just wasn't our night tonight."
Nazareth struggled to find an offensive rhythm Friday night, in large part to the Spartans defense led by junior defensive back Asher Boose. Nazareth standout quarterback Logan Malachuk completed just 12 of 24 passes for 114 yards, including an incompletion on fourth and 6 from his own 36 at the end of the third that set up St. Francis to seize control.
"It was both sides tonight," Boose said. "You get a stop that turns into a touchdown, that can really change a game so much.
"For us defensively, it starts with film. We felt like our coaches had us confident with a really good game plan and put us in the right spots to be successful. We went out and executed it tonight and got the win."
Milivojevic finished the night 16 of 21 passing for 273 yards and touchdown passes to Willis. The Ball State commit also accounted for the Spartans' first second-half touchdown on a 17-yard scramble, where he broke several tackles before diving into the end zone for the score.
"We have the best quarterback in the state, if not the Midwest and maybe the entire country," McMillen said. "He's running all over the place making the throws, making the correct plays every play. It's special to watch."
Nazareth got touchdowns from James Penley (15 yards) and Alex Angulo (3 yards) after halftime.