| JCA spoils Marian Catholic’s Homecoming |
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Mike Menozzi JolietCatholicFootball.com
Marian Catholic was primed for this one, they came in 4-1 and knew if they could upset Joliet Catholic 5-0, they could possibly salvage a three way tie with Carmel also 5-0 for the conference championship, if JCA could knock off Carmel in week nine . . . but I’m getting three weeks ahead of myself.
It was Homecoming, Marian was wearing their all black uniforms, and if that weren’t enough, the PA systems blasted AC DC’s “Back on Black” with some of the Halloween movie soundtrack mixed in.
The First Half
JCA received the ball first and immediately drove down field aided by a 22 yard run by Buchanan, and a 3rd and 9 pass completion to Eastman for a first down to keep the drive alive. On the same drive Kiernan hit Eastman again on a 4th and 12 for 13 yards and another first down. On 2nd and 13, Clancy ran a counter for a 22 yard TD and it was JCA 7-0 with 6:42 left in the first. Marian Catholic was playing the run tough, dropping JCA runners for periodic 1, 2 and 3 yard losses. Excellent execution, and making the big play kept drives alive and resulted in the scores JCA needed.
Marian Catholic’s Chris Rodriguez ran for 8 yards and JCA was handed their first of many personal foul penalties, tacking on another 15 yards. Marian faced a 3rd and 10 at our 30 yard line, before Marian QB Joe Grubisic hit Bryan Smith down to the two and it looked like Marian would tie the score. But he defense took over, a sack and a holding call pushed the ball back to the 15, Collins sacked Grubisic back at the 26 for an 11 yard loss, with 2:22 left in the first quarter. Grubisic hit Rodriguez down to the five and it was 4th and 5, Marian elected to kick a field goal that snuck over the post good. It was JCA 7, Marian 3.
Kiernan hit Sallese for 9 yards to the 44 yard line. No one knew at this point the game would slow to a crawl, aided by some “mysterious” clock maneuvering. It appeared Clancy was interfered with on the sideline but there was no call on the last play in the 1st quarter. Kleeman broke an 18 yard run, setting up a 1st and 10 n the 38. Marian’s over pursuit on defense led Kiernan to call his own number around the left side for 26 yards to the 11. Clancy finished it off with an 11 yard run for the TD and it was 14-3 JCA.
Marian opened it’s next drive at their own 30 but a series of short passes soon found them at the JCA 48. Bryan Smith made a juggling one handed grab on the sideline down to the 1, on a 47 yard pass play. Andy Lietz grabbed the 1 yard toss for a TD and it was 14-10 JCA with 8:17 left in the half.
JCA started their next drive on their own 20 after the kickoff sailed into the end zone. A light rain started and it was impacting the footing in the JCA backfield. Kleeman, and Clancy each had opportunities to pick up substantial yardage, but each slipped down.
JCA was forced to punt, on the play while the ball was rolling to a stop, well away from the play Kiernan was drilled by a Marian defender which should have led to a personal foul by it appeared the referees couldn’t find their flags. Marian was back in business down to the JCA 35 after Ryan Owens laid out completely for a pass down the sideline for a long gain.
With 3:23 left in the first half Kevin Platt picked off a Grubisic pass and ran it back to the 35. JCA drove and facing a 4th and 1, a fired up Marian defense, loss of footing, and a questionable spot resulted in JCA coming up a little short.
Andrew Kolodziej nearly had a sack, but a holding call on Marian pushed them back facing a 2nd and 20. Rodriguez thrilled the crowd taking a screen pass on the right side of the field and weaving across the field to the right side resulting in a gain of 7 yards with 1:12 on the JCA 47. Marian faced a 4th and 12 with 1:07 left, and didn’t convert.
JCA went 3 and out and punted, on the play one second came off the clock on the play. The following play was a screen pass to Rodriguez who stutter stepped in the middle of the field and headed for the sideline out of bounds, the clock never started on the play. More mysterious clock work was happening .
The tail end of the play JCA gets another personal foul, moving Marian to JCA’s 22 yard line with 17 seconds left. Rodriguez takes another screen and runs out of bounds with about 2 seconds on the clock, but the clock never stopped and the ref called the end of the first half JCA leading 14-10.
While JCA held the lead, key plays resulted in JCA scores, Marian was playing enthusiastic defense and causing lots of problems for the running game. Some questionable officiating didn’t help matters any.
The second Half
JCA kicked to Marian who began the second half drive on their own 19. Jeske chases down Grubisic who threw the ball out of bounds to avoid a sack bringing up a 4th down. JCA got good field position starting their drive n the 47. McKeon took the handoff through a huge hole on the right side for a 46 yard run to the 1, he added the 1 yard TD run, the kick was good JCA led 21-10.
The Spartans fumbled the ball and JCA recovered, but he was declared down, Marian retained the ball. Rodriguez went around the left side aided by what appeared to be a block in the back, but it wasn’t called, Rodriguez was pushed out at the 1, and added a 1 yard run to score making it JCA 21-17. Marian went 6 plays 73 yards n the scoring drive.
Eastman took the kickoff 70 yards, but JCA was called for a block in the back, the play came back to the 30. JCA converted a 4th and a yard with a Kiernan run. McKeon went through the right side again for 33 yards to the 23. JCA was faced with another 4th and 2 from the 19. This was a critical point in the game for JCA. If JCA doesn’t convert this, the momentum swings to Marian Catholic, only down 4 points. McKeon not only got the first down, he broke though another big hole and went untouched for the TD on a 15 yard run.
Marian turned the ball back over to JCA after an errant pitch to Rodriguez bounced off his facemask and dropped at Jake Traders feet.
A Clancy run and a pass to Eastman put the ball at the 5, but a motion penalty backed JCA up to the 10. McKeon took the handoff straight up the middle and went in for another TD. Clearly at this point, it was obvious that an adjustment at halftime was opening huge holes in Marians defense. They were no longer the swarming fired-up defense we saw in the first half. JCA led 34-17 with 1:41 left in the 3rd quarter.
Jadron, Ziesmer, Tomich, Anastopoulos, and Madsen took over the second half and executed their blocks perfectly, opening holes big enough to drive a car though in some cases.
On the following drive Gruben leveled Andy Lietz on a ball thrown high and over his head. Bobby Buchanan picked off Grubisic and ran the ball back 40 yards, but another personal foul took away the brilliant run by Buchanan, at least JCA retained the ball on the turnover. JCA starts on the 19 with 26 seconds left in the 3rd.
Kleeman finished the JCA drive with a 10 yard run for a TD, JCA 40-17 with 11:54 left in the game.
Marian went three and out on their next possession.
JCA was driving again but fumbled the back to Marian Catholic. Two sideline out patterns to Michael Jedlika had Marian moving again, and again there was the game clock not running while play was going on. Marian drove to the 27, another personal foul on JCA roughing the QB put the ball at the JCA 7. A 7 yard TD pass to Bryan Smith JCA 40-23 with 5:32 left in the game. Marian with 59 yards in 8 plays aided by a number of penalties.
Marian kicked an onside kick, but JCA recovered. JCA wasn’t finished yet, facing a 4th and 3 for a first, Clancy took the snap in punt formation and took off around the left end helped by a lead block by Kiernan, 42 yards later he was in for a score. JCA 46-23 3:09 left.
Marian got the ball back and Gruben was back at it – Walter Fisher wandered into Gruben’s coverage area and Fisher nearly had his head taken off as the ball bounced away incomplete. Zack Denny came in the replace Grubisic, was sacked and then picked off by Buchanan on a 4th down pass. Buchanan ran the ball back to the Marian 3 yard line, but another block in the back penalty nullified the runback. JCA retained possession, took a knee and the clock ran out on Marian’s hope for an upset. JCA 46, Marian 23
Coach Sharp elaborated on his teams play after the game: “Coach Mattio is probably the finest coach I know, and one of the best in the country, he had his team ready to play tonight, they came out in three different defenses in the first series.”
“All the credit goes to entire offensive coaching staff, Dave Douglas, Dave Seneker, Jim Sharp, and Paul Hoffman did a tremendous job of making halftime adjustments.”
“At halftime we identified that with certain formations they only played certain fronts, so we zeroed in to the one formation, so we could block these three plays, and if we block them well we felt like they couldn’t stop us. I’ll be darned if the kids didn’t come out and execute the adjustments we made.”
Once we got settled down and knew what we wanted to do against their fronts we were OK. Their defensive coordinator played at St. Francis, so he has a “Slovik mind” defensively.
“Coaches Dean and Deskin made some defensive adjustments and got us three turnovers in the second half. Going back to a four man front with a softer zone, and let Bobby play the middle. If Bobby Buchanan isn’t a big time defensive back I don’t know who is, he was just unbelievable back there.
“Marian can keep constant mental pressure on the defense, constant pressure, you don’t know if the quarterback is going to run it, Rodriguez is going to run it, and it creates mis-matches and one-on-ones with 4 wide receivers. Look at Rodriguez, one miss tackle and he’s gone. The wide receiver, one fade route and he’s gone. They can strike like lightening.”
“What we did well is we pressured the QB, came up with some turnovers and Buchanan played great, and some great hits by our secondary, separating receivers from the ball. A great win for us, a great win for the program, a great win for the season, our confidence is soaring right now, Billy McKeon is as good a running back as there is, he can run inside or outside.
Only half kidding, Coach Sharp said that they told the kids that Edgy Tim was on the sidelines, and that’s why they played so well in the second half . . . they didn’t want to embarrass themselves.
JCA made the necessary adjustments and made a close game no contest, handling a very tough Marian Catholic team that looks like they’ll be headed to the 7A playoffs with a couple losses. With their offense, they should be a favorite to be in the semifinals at least in 7A.
As for JCA, another big win on the road, but the number of personal foul penalties must be addressed. In a close game against a solid opponent, the game may hinge on who makes the least number of errors. Not turnovers, but the big penalty at the wrong time can swing momentum and possibly, the final score in favor of the opposition. Not something anyone wants to see.
JCA is at home next week against Notre Dame.
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