Green Wave light it up
The St. Edward football team lit up the competition Saturday night.
Playing its inaugural game under permanent lights, St. Edward moved to 2-0 for the first time since 2002 by routing Kirkland Hiawatha 48-0 at Greg True Field in Elgin.
The Green Wave scored touchdowns on 6 of their 7 first-half possessions to take a 34-0 lead at the intermission and tacked on another touchdown early in the third quarter to start a running clock,
It was a heady feeling for a program that found itself on the business end of a running clock too many times the past three seasons during a rebuilding process.
"The kids are confident and excited," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "The last three years, while they will always be part of their memory, it's kind of a distant memory. It's a piece of their history, but they're moving on and turning the page."
The St. Edward defense blanketed the offense of Hiawatha (1-1) with penetrating line play from Jon Godfrey and speedy linebackers who closed any holes briefly opened. The Hawks were held to 67 total yards, 59 rushing, and 3 first downs.
The game tilted St. Edward's way immediately when Hiawatha fumbled a handoff on the first play from scrimmage at its own 20-yard line. The Wave cashed in on its first play when senior Moises Quiroga cut inside one tackler and ran 20 yards for a touchdown.
Hiawatha lost the ball again on its third possession when a dropped screen pass was ruled a lateral. Nathan Gaige recovered for the Wave, who scored 2 plays later on junior David Hoebbel's 17-yard run to make it 14-0.
On the Hawks' ensuing possession, Gaige intercepted quarterback Jason Keneway at the Hiawatha 31-yard line, and tailback Jimmy Mathisen bulged the lead to 21-0 just 4 plays later with a 19-yard burst up the middle with 2:06 left in the first quarter.
"We are trying to get 2 turnovers a game on defense this year," said Quiroga, who doubles as a middle linebacker. "We did our part today. We were more physical than they were, and they couldn't keep up with us. If you can't keep up, the scoreboard's going to look the way it did."
The St. Edward offensive line opened holes for nine running backs to combine for 248 yards rushing on 26 carries.
"Our line did really good," Mathisen said. "What we worked on in practice we executed in the game and it was just an all-around team win. When we picked up those turnovers and got points off of them, we just knew we were going to keep going.
The Green Wave added 2 more touchdowns before halftime. Senior John Heugh capped a 10-play, 44-yard drive with a 7-yard jaunt to make it 28-0 with 6:25 left in the first half. Quiroga made it 34-0 when he broke off tackle to the right, picked up a key downfield block from tight end Jim Waclawik and sprinted 47 yards to paydirt.
"It feels amazing," Godfrey said of being 2-0. "The past three years have been horrible, but now we've come around and we're doing a great job."