Montini bounces back to topple St. Francis

Montini coach Chris Andriano had that gleam in his eye. The one that said, Never count us out.

The Broncos channeled vengeance in Saturday's Class 5A first-round playoff football game, beating defending state champion and familiar nemesis St. Francis 28-3 on the turf of West Chicago High.

Behind Brandon Pechloff's 3 touchdown passes, Nick Campanella's 19-yard touchdown run and stiff defense up the gut, No. 12 seed Montini (6-4) answered a Week 4 loss and its 2008 quarterfinal elimination at the hand of the Spartans.

"This has been kind of eating at us," said Andriano, who gets a second shot at another Suburban Christian Conference foe, Marian Central.

"Montini football means pride, and it was great to see our kids respond the right way."

None more than Pechloff. Intercepted 3 times in St. Francis' 51-31 Week 4 win, the 6-foot-6 senior was 14-of-22 passing for 177 yards. His 1 pick came too late for No. 5 seed St. Francis (7-3) to do much with, trailing 21-3 with 7:37 to play.

Second-quarter touchdown throws to Jordan Westerkamp - a 4-yard slant, a 5-yard button hook - sandwiched Matt Krese's 29-yard field goal for Montini's 14-3 halftime lead.

Pechloff said he'd been "confused the entire first half" of September's loss to St. Francis.

"This time," the right-hander said, "we came out and I looked at the defense, knew what was going to be there and just made the right throws at the right time."

Campanella's 19-yard draw and Matt Kersten's kick provided the 21-3 fourth-quarter lead. One knew it was Montini's day when Westerkamp leapt for a 29-yard grab on third-and-27. That led to brother Christian Westerkamp's 14-yard touchdown catch.

"They just gave us man coverage, so (the coaches) made the right calls, and we made the plays," Jordan Westerkamp said.

A huge factor was limiting St. Francis' Wing-T run game. A month ago Spartans backs Bob Miller and Mark Schmitt and quarterback Collin O'Donnell each broke 100 yards. Saturday they totaled 132.

"I would say it was more will and desire," said Montini senior linebacker Ryan Gorrell. "We were prepared, but we wanted this badly."

Of course, so did the defending champions.

"Winning seven games this year and 13 last year, this group of seniors won 20 out of 24 games," said St. Francis coach Greg Purnell. "I know there's a lot of kids in the state of Illinois that would like to be able to say that."