St. Edward on brink of first 9-0 season

With standout freshman running back Dwayne Allen filling up the stat sheet every week opponents are already well aware of St. Edward's ability to run the ball. However, it's easy to fall into the trap of overlooking the Green Wave's passing game.

That passing attack was on full display Friday night at Greg True Field in Elgin. Quarterback Joe Mullen threw for 365 yards and 5 touchdowns to lead the Green Wave to a 45-6 Metro Suburban East win over Chicago Christian. St. Edward (8-0, 4-0) is now just one win away from its first unbeaten regular season. The eight wins ties a school record set in 1978 and 2010. The Green Wave also clinched at least a share of the Metro East title, their first conference title since 1978.

"Every week the pressure builds a little more to keep the undefeated season going," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "But the kids continue to respond and I have been really impressed with the way they keep their focus."

Mullen had touchdown tosses of 27, 64, 63, 68, and 11 yards. He hooked up with Nick Duffy on the Green Wave's first possession for a 27-yard strike to open the scoring. Then he found Santos Gomez deep for 64 yards on the second possession to make it 14-0.

"In getting prepared for the game we thought they would probably be geared up to stop the run," Rolando said. "So we wanted to come out ready to throw. We are a very well-rounded team and Joe is a good passer, so if the passes are there we are not going to hesitate to throw it. Everybody in the passing game did a great job tonight. The line did an excellent job of protecting, and the receivers did a great job of getting open, and Joe was on target."

Mullen completed 15 of 19 attempts.

"It's amazing what having a running back like Dwayne does for the rest of the offense," said Mullen of Allen, who had 93 yards on 17 carries. "Other teams come in planning around stopping him and that just opens up the passing game for us. We were going to take whatever the defense gave us and today they gave us the pass. And the O- line did an amazing job to give us time to throw That's the only way this is able to happen."

Sophomore Trevor Loewen was Mullen's favorite deep target with long bombs of 63 and 68 yards for touchdowns in the first half. St. Edward led 31-6 at the half. Loewen finished with 6 receptions for 194 yards.

"I did a lot of offseason work with Joe," said Loewen. "So we have a good feel for one another. And we have so many other guys on our offense that can make plays it just takes the pressure off and gives everyone a lot of opportunities."

Mullen added an 11 yard touchdown pass to John deWindt on the first possession of the third quarter. Later in the fourth M. Dziurgot ran for a 2-yard touchdown.

On defense the Green Wave held the Knights to just 130 total yards. Josh Von Rohr had a pair of sacks and Saveon Smith had an interception.