Spartans remove the drama

Like a three-act play at Montini's John L. Duffy Memorial Field, St. Francis built a big lead, saw it slip away, then regrouped to drive it home.

St. Francis watched a 28-point lead slip to 4 before pulling away for a 51-31 Suburban Christian Conference Blue victory on Saturday in Lombard.

"We were ready for Montini. We wanted it. We wanted it bad," said St. Francis junior fullback Bob Miller, whose 131 yards rushing included touchdowns of 1, 2, 2 and 4 yards.

Spartans wingback Mark Schmitt added 118 yards rushing with a 10-yard touchdown and quarterback Collin O'Donnell ran the perimeter for 105 yards and touchdown runs of 48 and 19 yards.

Coming off a lackluster loss to Marmion, St. Francis (3-1, 1-1) wanted to beat Class 5A's sixth-ranked team bad enough to intercept 3 Montini passes and recover 2 fumbles. The Spartans scored their most points since a 62-13 Week 2 win over DeKalb in last year's Class 5A title season.

"It's unheard of - 51 points against Montini. It was just all heart," said cornerback-wingback Tony Vargyas.

Preparation, too. Vargyas' 2 interceptions and another by Kevin Fassnacht in the Cover-2 scheme helped St. Francis post a 28-7 halftime lead.

"I was trying to get the ball in the middle of the field where there were three, four people in it, and I didn't see it until the second half," said Montini quarterback Brandon Pechloff, who rallied to finish 15-of-33 passing for 245 yards and 4 touchdowns. "Then we started going to the outside and capitalizing on things and opening up the field."

First, St. Francis linebacker Jimmy Chaon recovered a fumble at Montini's 2-yard line and Miller bulled in for a 35-7 Spartans lead at 7:44 of the third quarter.

"It's a dirty job in there in the trenches," St. Francis tackle Russell Kalfas said, "but we've just got to come out and play and that's what we did in practice this week, and just be physical."

Then the tide turned. Pechloff threw touchdown passes to Jordan Westerkamp - the sophomore's second of the game - Josh Chomiczewski and Nick Campanella, the latter a Spartan-hurdling 58-yarder. When Matt Kersten hit a 42-yard field goal at 8:19 of the fourth quarter Montini (2-2, 1-1) had drawn within 35-31.

"We knew they'd make a run at us in the second half," said St. Francis coach Greg Purnell. "(Pechloff) got on rhythm, and when he gets on rhythm he's really tough. But we got him out of it then, too."

The crucial momentum-killer came when quick-thinking punter Vargyas drew a roughing call.

"I just took one extra step and kicked it," Vargyas said. "Luckily for us, he hit me."

St. Francis regained command with 16 unanswered points courtesy of a safety, more hard Miller running and, after another fumble recovery, O'Donnell's 19-yard run.

"At least we made it interesting and we showed what kind of pride that we had," said Montini coach Chris Andriano. "But too many turnovers."