Injury bug continues to hamper St. Charles East in loss to Notre Dame
St. Charles East’s running backs might want to add Lucky Charms to their diets if they haven’t already. Maybe then the injury bug will go away.
Already missing Logan Tatar after being hurt a week ago and with Johnny Solano only having one unbroken wrist, the Saints lost starter Xander Salazar late in the first half of Friday’s 31-28 nonconference loss to Notre Dame.
Salazar went down after an 11-yard run with less than a minute left before halftime. Although he got up, he couldn’t put any weight on his lower right leg as he was helped off the field. His night ended at 94 yards on 9 carries.
“Obviously, we're really hoping for the guy,” said Saints coach Nolan Possley. “He's really the heartbeat of this team.”
The first quarter belonged to the Saints (0-2). In over three minutes, Salazar ran 67 yards for the game’s first touchdown, and Cruz Herrera found an open Sheko Gjokaj for a 28-yard score.
The Dons (2-0) flipped the script in the second quarter. Quinn Conway, who had subbed in the first for Luke Dickey, fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Nick Miro.
Another Notre Dame drive was kept alive when the Saints were penalized for roughing the kicker on a punt and also featured third- and fourth-down conversions galore. It ended with Throy Nightingale scoring from 3 yards out, tying the score at 14.
St. Charles East had a chance to untie the game right before the half, but a 45-yard Ryan Possin field-goal attempt came up empty.
The Saints appeared they would be fine after recovering the botched second-half kickoff, and Herrera hit Gjokaj for his second touchdown from 15 yards out.
“We had the mentality going into this game that we need to fight for ourselves,” Gjokaj said.
But the Dons put together a lengthy drive that culminated in a game-tying tush-push touchdown from the 1-yard line by Dickey, who had reentered.
The teams traded scores early in the fourth quarter. Herrera found Tyler Bradley for a 23-yard touchdown on the first play of the frame, and Deonte Macon had a 3-yard touchdown run on a drive where he got into the red zone on a 39-yard gain.
After St. Charles East was unable to respond, Notre Dame primarily went with the rushing duo Nightingale and Macon to bleed the clock.
Though the Saints kept the Dons out of the end zone, they couldn’t prevent Michael Olszewski’s go-ahead 29-yard field goal with 2:13 left. They promptly turned the ball over on downs, and the Dons lined up in victory formation.
“Right now, it's just about getting better every day and getting those playmakers the ball,” Possley said.