Benet shuts out St. Viator

Aside from the fact that it wasn't a balmy and clear 75 degrees, Benet's Friday night homecoming contest against St. Viator at Benedictine University couldn't have gone much better.

In what was widely described as the Redwings' best overall performance in a few years, they posted a cold, rainy 24-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory over the Lions.

"That's probably our most complete game in at least three years," said Benet coach Gary Goforth. "We needed this. I thought we were a better team than we've been showing, but the big plays have hurt us. All week we told the kids they had to concentrate for 48 minutes, 2,880 seconds, and tonight they did."

Standing out among equals was Benet's defense, which kept a St. Viator offense that had been averaging in excess of 30 points a game off the scoreboard. The key was containing St. Viator's slippery senior quarterback Julian Sipiora. While he did have 62 yards on his first 6 carries of the game, he was held to 56 over his final 20 with a long gain of 9 yards. Phil Schmidt ended an early Lions drive with a bobbling interception of Sipiora at the Benet 3. Then, twice in the fourth quarter the Lions (3-3, 1-3) advanced inside the Benet 20, but the defense rose to the occasion in both instances to preserve the shutout.

"We knew they had a great passing game and a great offense and our main goal was to contain the quarterback, and our linebackers and defensive line did a great job," said Benet defensive end Nick Melka, who spent most of the night chasing - and catching - Sipiora. "When they got to the goal line, everybody shut it down."

While the Redwings (3-3, 2-2) have been susceptible to big plays on defense, they used a pair of lightning strikes on offense to knock the Lions back on the heels. The first came four minutes into the game on a third-and-20 from their own 6 when Dylan Flood beat double coverage down the sideline and hauled in Luke Terna's pass for a 94-yard touchdown, a play Goforth thinks might be the longest in school history.

Then, after Connor Miller's 20-yard field goal gave Benet a 10-0 halftime lead, E.J. Howe broke four tackles and used a great block from Andy Remar on a 49-yard scoring run that made it 17-0 just 28 seconds into the second half. Terna closed the scoring with 9 minutes to play with a 14-yard scoring sweep.

Both Goforth and Melka pointed to the confidence boost the result would give the Redwings as they now embark on a two-game road trip to face ESCC powers Joliet Catholic Academy and Marist in search of the program's first playoff berth since 2006.

"For us every game is a playoff game," Goforth said. "Every game you lose you get closer to going home in week 10. If we can do this every week, we're really good."

St. Viator finds itself in the same boat heading into the final weeks, and coach Chris Kirkpatrick was ready to do some soul-searching as the Lions prepare to host undefeated Marian Catholic.

"This isn't the kids' fault," he said. "We've got a better team than that. I have to look at myself; it's my fault."