Benet falls to Notre Dame
On 38 snaps the Benet defense held visiting Notre Dame to 98 yards on Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Redwings, the Dons ran 42 plays in the game and those other 4 plays accounted for 217 yards, with all of them contributing to a scoring drive in Notre Dame's 24-7 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory.
"Benet did a good job defensively, they're tough and physical, but our offensive line played great; when we needed a hole they got it for us," said Notre Dame running back Ty Gavin, who was the main thorn in Benet's side.
The teams had battled through a scoreless first quarter and Notre Dame (3-1, 1-1) had averaged a scant 3 yards per play before Gavin broke through the Benet line, outmaneuvered a pair of defensive backs and sprinted 59 yards to make it 7-0 with five minutes left in the half.
The Redwings (3-1, 1-1) appeared ready to offer an immediate response as a 23-yard pass from Colin Gillespie to Luke Flaska and Michael Wyman's 32-yard run put the ball at the Notre Dame 5, but two plays later Wyman fumbled at the goal line with Xavier Buckley recovering in the end zone for the Dons.
A personal foul penalty on the Redwings put the ball on the 35 and on the first snap, Julian Schurr, with picture-perfect seal blocks from linemen Daniel Yousif and Patrick Banich, swept 65 yards around left end to make it 14-0 at the half.
"We worked our tails off to get down there, then we have the fumble and they pop a long run," said Benet coach Pat New. "We got pinned inside and they just sealed us off."
The Redwings appeared to get back into the game midway through the third quarter as Wyman capped off a 63-yard drive on which he carried 7 times with a 1-yard plunge to make it 14-7. But the big play rose up to bite Benet again as Anthony Sayles' 28-yard hookup with Frank Giamarusti led to Danny Simon's 25-yard field goal and a 17-7 lead.
Benet's next two drives took them into Notre Dame territory, but this time it was the Dons defense that posted big plays as sacks of Gillespie by Pat Carden and Anthony Ranallo put an end to both marches. After the second stop Gavin put the icing on the cake with a 65-yard sprint that set up his 8-yard score with less than two minutes to play.
"Notre Dame is traditionally very strong defensively, but we had opportunities," New said. "We just didn't capitalize on them, we just didn't make enough plays."
Indeed, the Redwings advanced into Notre Dame's half of the field five times on the night, had 19 first downs to 8, and ran 71 plays to 42 - with Gillespie throwing for 192 yards - but couldn't close the deal.