advertisement

Benet loses QB, game

Benet loses QB, game

The Benet Academy football team's offense suffered a huge loss Friday when starting quarterback Jack Sznajder was sacked at the end of its third series and left the game with back spasms.

Nazareth Academy's offense countered with big plays.

The combination resulted in a 33-0 loss for the Redwings in their key East Suburban Catholic Conference meeting with the defending Class 6A state champions in LaGrange Park.

“Jack's been great for us all year. That was a tough one, but we just weren't able to recover from that,” Benet coach Pat New said.

“We came into today's game and I said, ‘If you limit big plays and limit turnovers, we're going to be in pretty good shape,' and we just weren't able to do that.”

The Redwings (4-2, 2-2 in ESCC) and Roadrunners (5-1, 3-1) were trying to keep pace with ESCC frontrunner Joliet Catholic Academy (6-0, 4-0). They are JCA's next two opponents with Benet at home against the Hilltoppers Oct. 16.

By halftime, the Roadrunners led 19-0 and 190-31 yards in total offense. Three Nazareth plays accounted for 132 of them – a 60-yard TD run by Notre Dame-bound Julian Love on its first offensive play after Sznajder was sacked and plays that set up the next two TDs -- a 28-yard pass play from quarterback Charlie Bartels to Justin Weller to the 11 and Love's 44-yard run to the 7.

Ivory Kelly-Martin scored from the 3 on fourth-and-2 and a half-yard out on fourth-and goal.

“I think the same caliber (as last year's Nazareth team),” Benet senior linebacker Charlie Weidenbach said. “They're really fast. We played our assignments and they just made plays. Their (offensive) line, even though they're totally new, they were good.”

Nazareth took no chances after losing 34-19 at Marian Central Sept. 18 after leading 19-0 at halftime. In the third quarter, Love scored from the 1 on fourth-and-goal and Kelly-Martin added a 57-yard TD run.

“I thought all around we played a solid game in each phase,” Nazareth coach Tim Racki said. “The one thing we've been trying to battle is if it's not going our way. I think we finally got through that haze (since Marian Central), even though we want to forget losses.”

Benet used four quarterbacks. Junior Mike Dunn replaced Sznajder for the second quarter. Senior Nick Benak played the first series of the second half, followed by sophomore Matt Boyle in his varsity debut after playing in the sophomore game. Boyle completed three passes for 19 yards.

The Redwings finished with 63 total yards and six first downs and punted 11 times. Their longest play was Weidenbach's 15-yard gain on a fake punt for a first down just before halftime. Weidenbach also recovered a fourth-quarter fumble caused by Alec McEachern following a 31-yard catch by Love. After Erik Jones' 31-yard punt return, the Redwings started at the 20 with 1:45 left but lost a fumble three plays later.

Kelly-Martin finished with 142 rushing yards and Love 97. Love switched from No. 20 to 12 after his jersey was ripped on the second offensive play of the game.

“I didn't know who the heck No. 12 was. I was like, ‘They found another great player,' and then we figured out it was (Love),” New said. “We've just got to move on from this one. I didn't even tear into them today.”

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.