St. Viator's fate down to wire
St. Viator was hoping a victory at Notre Dame on Friday would help grease its path into the postseason.
The Lions entered the game needing at the minimum one victory in its last two games to at least qualify, with two victories guaranteeing a trip to the post season.
Viator will have to wait one more week.
A stingy Notre Dame defense and an opportunistic offense propelled the Dons to a 35-21 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory over St. Viator in Niles.
"Hopefully we can beat St. Joseph but now we left it in the hands of other people," said St. Viator coach Chris Kirkpatrick of the Lions' playoff hopes. "Do I think we can get in? Yes. Are you 100-percent sure? No."
St. Viator (4-4, 2-4) looked well on its way to a playoff berth early with Julian Sipiora finding Richard McLoughlin for a 5-yard score with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter.
Notre Dame (6-2, 4-2) answered when Drew Diaz connected with Connor Thomas on a 73-yard TD to knot the score at 7-7.
But Viator marched right back down the field with Sipiora adding a 48-yard run giving the Lions a first down at Notre Dame 3-yard line.
On third down, Sipiora seem to have a clear shot at the end zone but Notre Dame linebacker Jeremy Burgos met the Lion senior at the corner of the goal line with a crunching blow and the Dons held on fourth down at the 1 to halt Viator's momentum.
"It was a close call," said Sipiora who touched the ball with goal-line marker but was ruled down with his knee touching the ground. "Maybe I was in, maybe I wasn't. Bottom line is we didn't get the job done."
Jeremy Burgos added 2 sacks to propel a relentless Don's defense.
"I don't want anyone coming in my end zone," added Burgos of the momentum-changing play. "I hate when people score and we were looking to keep him out."
The game remained knotted at 7-7 at halftime, but Julian Burgos scored the first of his two touchdowns on 26 yard run to give the Dons a 14-7 advantage with 10:28 remaining in the third quarter.
St. Viator answered with Sipiora finding McLoughlin for his second score with a 7-yard toss tying the score at 14-14.
But Notre Dame took advantage of a couple of Lions' mistakes.
A penalty on the ensuing kick off gave Notre Dame the ball at the Lions 44 yard line and two plays later Diaz (13-for-17, 220 yards) connected with Tim Hirsch for a 41 yard score.
A bad snap on a Viator punt then gave Notre Dame the ball at the Lions 25 yard line and Julian Burgos ran 14 yards on a fourth and one leading to a 1 yard score by Diaz giving the Dons a 28-14 advantage with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter.
"We had some breakdowns but they out played us," added Kirkpatrick.
Burgos added an 8-yard score for ND halfway through the fourth quarter, with Sipiora adding a 1-yard score for the Lions.
Jake Mastrangeli aided the Viator attack with 6 catches for 84 yards.
Now the Lions must take care of business next week to extend their season.
"That makes next Friday even bigger than this Friday," Sipiora added.