Football: Notre Dame gets rolling, then holds off St. Viator
Notre Dame's football team was not the same at 7:30 p.m. as it was at 8:30 p.m.
The Dons were struggling early against St. Viator at Robert Morris Stadium in Arlington Heights.
The Lions were having their way with Notre Dame, leading 7-0 with 1:32 left in the first half in the East Suburban Catholic battle.
Then ND coach Mike Hennessey called on kicker Mike O'Malley to boot a 32-yard field goal with one second left in the half to make it 7-3.
"We needed that score before halftime," Hennessey said. "That gave us some momentum for the second half."
Momentum it was, as Notre Dame topped the Lions 31-21 to garner enough points to qualify for the state playoffs.
St. Viator has enough points at 5-3 and 4-3 to also get into the playoffs.
Both teams will await their postseason challenges on Saturday night.
Sophomore running back Ty Gavin scored on a 14-yard run to give the Dons a 10-3 lead with 7:12 left in the third quarter.
The score capped a seven-play, 55-yard drive.
Gavin, who rushed for 122 yards on 23 attempts, broke loose on a 56-yard run to give ND (6-3, 5-2) a 17-7 lead with 3:31 left in the third quarter.
Moments later, A.J. McInerney recovered a fumble at the St. Viator 21 and scored for a 24-7 advantage.
An interception by Greg Burnett set up Gavin's third TD, a 1-yard run with 10:26 left in the game that extended the lead to 31-7.
"We had to work hard for this win," Gavin said. "We struggled a little early in the game but we corrected some errors at halftime and now we are excited to get into the playoffs."
The Lions fought back valiantly to score on a 5-yard TD run by Kyle Pearce to make it 31-14 victory with 7:43 remaining in the game.
Cole Kmet recovered an onside kick, then caught a 16-yard and then a 32-yard TD pass from quarterback Bryce Hellgeth with 7:15 left to make it 31-21.
Kmet also caught a 21-yard TD pass in the first quarter and finished with 10 catches for 201 yards.
Hellgeth finished 16 of 31 with 3 interceptions for 239 of the team's 333 yards of offense.
"We have to take the positives in this game, like the fourth-quarter comeback, and learn from that to help us in our playoff game next week," Hellgeth said. "We showed some good character and we didn't give up."
"These last two weeks have been like a playoff atmosphere for us," said St. Viator coach Dave Archibald. "We got hurt on some big plays tonight and we felt that we were controlling the game in the first half. But our turnovers in the second half really hurt us.
"It's a credit to this team that they came back after a 1-8 record last year to make the playoffs."