| JCA defeats Notre Dame 28-20 |
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Mike Menozzi www.JolietCatholicFootball.com
Notre Dame has a running game . . . no . . . really they do. They just didn’t bring it to Joliet tonight. Coach Sharp quipped after the game, “Notre Dame threw the ball more tonight that they have combined in the previous 6 games all year”
Notre Dame came in knowing they must win 2 of their last 3 games to make the playoffs. They nearly pulled it off, abandoning their normal running game, and nearly exclusively throwing the ball. I counted 4 actual running plays in the first half, and none in the second half. Not counting broken plays that were quarterback scrambles for yardage. Notre Dame must be a very disciplined team to throw the ball 60 times or so and have one holding call, but that’s another matter.
Notre Dame drove to the JCA 31 and turned the ball over on downs. JCA took the ball and drove for a McKeon 11 yards TD run, Clancy added the 2 point conversion to make it 8-0 JCA.
With a 1:23 left in the first quarter ND drove to the JCA 27 having success with a quarterback sprint out away from the pressure and throwing 7 to 8 yard out patterns on the sidelines. The first quarter ended 8-0 JCA, with ND at the JCA 18 yard line with a 1st down. However the drive stalled, and a 4th down pass was batted away, and JCA took over.
Kiernan had the ball batted out of his hand at the 5 yard line and ND took over at their own 1. Notre Dame punted after what appeared to be a safety, and with 3:02 left in the half JCA had the ball again.
JCA took over on the ND 35, and capped a drive with Clancy in with an 8 yard run for a touchdown. JCA missed the extra point, making it 14-0 with 1:42 in the half.
ND completed a 30 yard pass with an unsportsmanlike penalty tacked on put the ball at the JCA 12. Notre Dames quarterback Ryan Corliss ran a keeper to the 2 yard line with 44 seconds left.
Notre Dame came out in a spread offense with their wide outs just 5 yards from the sidelines after a JCA timeout. After an attempted fullback dive that was stuffed by Jeske, and a quarterback keeper against stuffed by Jeske, ND had a 3rd down with 6 seconds left from the 1 yard line.
Corliss rolled left against man to man coverage, as Corliss headed to the line of scrimmage, coverage broke down and he tossed a 1 yard TD with no time left on the clock. 14-8 JCA at the half.
The Second Half
JCA ran Kleeman twice for short gains and an incomplete pass turned the ball over to ND. But ND was forced to punt after Tim Collins sacked Corliss on a 3rd down and 10.
Eastman called for a fair catch at the 8 yard line and JCA began in the hole.
Notre Dame’s defensive secondary was quick enough that none of the JCA runners could break the long run. They were always close but couldn’t get past the last man.
Notre Dame was called for a late hit on McKeon after the Hillmen moved the ball out the 41. With 15 seconds left in the 3rd quarter McKeon caught an 11 yard pass for a TD, Nate Hudetz added the extra point to make it 21-8. The drive was just what the doctor ordered. A long drive of all running plays, eating up 4 and 5 yards per carry and keeping the clock running. The Hillmen offense had no penalties in the drive.
Robinson and Kolodziej combined for a 13 yard sack of Corliss on ND’s next drive, putting the Don’s in a 3rd and 21 with 11 minutes left in the game. ND punted again, but after a illegal use of hands penalty backed of JCA to their own 20.
With 10:14 left in the game, Kiernan hit McKeon with a 27 yard pass to the JCA 48. An 11 yard pass to Eastman, and a Kleeman 11 yard run preceded a 30 yard pass to Clancy down the right side making it 28-8 with 7:15 left in the game.
Then things took a turn for the worst. ND wasn’t successful running their offense, as much as Corliss was excellent creating something from nothing. Escaping near sacks, stepping under tackles, and avoiding sure losses, only to fire a strike to an open receiver for a gain of some sort.
Notre Dame typically runs at least 50% of the time, but not tonight, they abandoned their normal offense and switched to a all-pass-all-the-time offense. They were taking the short sideline passes of 7 to 8 yards, and never got greedy and went for it all too soon.
True to form, Corliss dodged the in coming rush and fired a strike 45 yards to the JCA 25 yard line with 6:12 left. The following play, Corliss ran left, only to find the entire defensive line waiting for him. He doubled back scrambling to the left side of the field and throwing on the run hit Tom Cirone for a touchdown pass. JCA led 28-14 after the 2 point attempt was missed.
ND attempted an on side kick but JCA recovered. Kiernan hit Eastman to the ND 22, and a roughing the QB penalty moved the ball to the 9. Kurt Kleeman was down on the field for a length of time, but he did return after some time on the bench.
Kiernan took the ball down to the ND 1 and suffered a broken clavicle on the play. JCA was also called for holding which nullified the run. With the loss of Kiernan, and the holding call JCA wasn’t able to score and turned it over on downs with 2:18. ND had the ball on their own 28.
ND drove and scored with 29 seconds left making it 28-20, they missed the extra point.
ND recovered the next on side kick on the JCA 46 with 27 seconds left. With 14 seconds left Corliss eluded two sacks and what should have been a 13 yard loss, and completes a pass for 10 yards at the JCA 30.
With 3 seconds left, Bobby Buchanan intercepted a tipped ball in the end zone to end the ND hopes. The final was 28-20.
While JCA never punted, they were in control of the game until the 4th quarter started. A turnover at the 1, and turning the ball over on downs twice inside the 20 kept the game closer than it ever should have been.
But without a doubt, Notre Dame’s Ryan Corliss is the best quarterback we’ve faced this year. If they stick with this offense they could be dangerous if they make the playoffs. But they now must win both remaining games. ND had a plan and they stuck with it – throwing for 336 yards, and nearly pulled off the upset.
Coach Sharp added: “He (Corliss) was able to scramble and make something from nothing. What we did a poor job of was coming off the receivers and not staying in coverage while he was scrambling. All of their success came off the scramble, and Marian was successful with that as well, so it’s obviously something we need to work on. But this kid (Corliss) was just sensational today, he couldn’t miss.”
“John (Kiernan) threw the ball extremely well again today, he had some big plays for us, it’s a shame he’s hurt. His clavicle is broken, so Billy McKeon will play quarterback for us now, and the sophomore will back him up.”
“We’ll work on staying on coverage, and tackling. We had him tackled I don’t know how many times and he got away. There’s a natural tendency to let up when you see him wrapped up like that, but he’d get away.”
“I’m just glad to get out of here with a win, I think it just goes to show how good our conference is, and how fired up teams are that play us. We get every team’s “A” game each week.”
The Hilltoppers will face winless St. Joe’s next week at home. It’s Senior night, and Parents night as well.
More importantly, the Hillmen need to adjust to yet another obstacle in the years march to the playoffs. Replacing Bourg, and Kiernan in the same season, and still able to win it all would be a super human feat for the players that need to step up, and the coaching staff to adjust to the talent they have to work with.
Is this team capable of overcoming this latest setback? I think these guys will show us all what they’re made of in the next several weeks.
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