IC Catholic tunes up for Loyola with dominating effort at Benet

IC Catholic Prep has been winning on both sides of the ball while going unbeaten this fall. On Friday night they did it again and senior Jaden Penna was right in the middle of things.

The wide receiver/defensive back scored two touchdowns and intercepted a pass as the Knights improved to 7-0 on the year with a 42-14 defeat of Benet Academy in Lisle.

As great as his efforts were in the game, Penna was quick to credit his teammates on both units and also to point out that while the record is perfect right now, next week is a huge test against powerful Loyola.

“I’m really happy to be 7-0 with these teammates,” Penna said, after catching four passes for 97 yards and the two scores. “Yeah it was a good night out there but I would not have done it if my quarterback wasn’t putting the ball there for me and if the defense wasn’t out there doing their job.”

IC led 28-7 at the half as Nate Lang threw touchdown passes to Penna and Anthony Carroccio, and Jakobe Baldwin had a 5-yard touchdown run as part of his 112 yards on the ground.

“Now we need to celebrate tonight but then start preparing for Loyola next week,” Penna said.

Knights coach Bill Kreftt agreed with his two-way standout.

“I have all the respect for Benet. We kind of jumped on them and made them play at our pace,” Kreftt said. “But we’re 0-0 now and we have to get back to work on Sunday and Monday and prepare to play the best team in the state.”

The Redwings, under first-year coach James White, dropped to 2-5 on the year while playing a rugged Chicago Catholic League schedule. Quarterback Alex Mitchell did pass for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but special teams miscues helped the Knights come away with the one-sided win.

“Our kids compete. But you’ve got to eliminate bad plays,” White said. “We had a bad snap and a punt blocked. You can’t do that against good teams. Every time I step on the field I believe we can win. But we have to eliminate the mistakes.”

The game started well for the Knights, who scored on a safety following the Redwings’ first possession and then scored touchdowns on their first two drives for a 15-0 lead after one quarter.

After Benet lined up to punt on the game’s first drive, a high snap sailed over the head of punter Charlie Parwani, who wisely chased down the errant ball and kicked it out of the back of the end zone, giving the visitors a quick 2-0 lead.

IC promptly drove 69 yards on four plays capped by a three-yard run by Grant Bowen for an 8-0 lead. Lang’s first two passes of the night went for 29 yards to Penna and 25 more to Bowen.

Penna then picked off a pass to end Benet’s next drive, setting the stage for a five-yard run to the end zone by Baldwin to make the score 15-0.

From there each team came up with a big pass play. The Knights struck on a 77-yard pass from Lang to Carroccio, then the home team got on the board when Mitchell connected with Giovanni Sanderlin on a 76-yard catch and run to make the score 21-7 with 9:17 left in the half.

Mitchell hit Sanderlin in stride and the junior wideout raced the final 40 yards untouched to get Benet on the board. Sanderlin had 119 yards receiving in the first half alone.

Penna then capped his big first half with an 11-yard touchdown catch to make it a 28-7 game at the break.