| Just like at the movies . . . |
 |
Mike Menozzi JolietCatholicFootball.com
In the movies, it’s the anticipation that keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for what you know is coming, you just don’t know when.
Nazareth’s defense walked onto the field and were escorted off as quickly as they arrived. Oh sure, Joliet Catholic had an unbelievable amount of offensive weapons coming into 2004. But no one knew so many would be so effective, so fast, in their 55-0 season opener.
The Hillmen wasted little time flexing their offensive muscle. On the first play from scrimmage, Catholic took a 6-0 lead after John Kiernan hit Billy McKeon down the left sideline for 49 yards. Platt in for the extra point and the rout was on.
Nazareth managed a couple first downs before punting.
Benson took the handoff up the middle for 13 yards to the 42. A holding call pushed it back to the 31. Clancy rumbled for 23 to the Nazareth 46. Kiernan hit Clancy for 32 yards to the 14. McKeon carried it to the 5. Benson scored from 5 out but due to a motion call it was called back, the ball was on the 10. Kiernan picked up a key 1st down on the 5, on a 4th and 1 keeper before Benson scored, and Platt added the PAT 14-0 with 1:39 in the 1st Quarter.
Junior Shane Keane booted the ensuing kickoff to the 23, Nazareth takes over on the 35. The Road Runners used a rolling pocket to escape Catholic’s front line pressure, and Peter Zavagnin was making the most of it. Elusive, and a strong accurate thrower on the move, Zavagnin was adept at avoiding sacks, and finding an open man after a scramble.
Nazareth had back to back holding calls, forcing them to punt. Pete Barney just missed a blocked punt but was called for roughing the punter sustaining the Nazareth drive. Barney had the wind knocked out of him, and went to the sideline.
With 10 minutes left in the game Zavagnin drove Nazareth to Catholic’s 42. #54 Trey Epich for Nazareth was injured on the play and removed on a stretcher for precautionary reasons. The extent of his injury is unknown, but we wish him a speedy recovery.
Nazareth drove to the 24 after an 11 yard pass play scramble. Faced with a 4th and 7 from the 20 Zavagnin misfired on his pass attempt and Catholic took over on their own 20.
Catholic’s 3rd possession started with 8:39 left in the half.
This was not the type of game where it was a good idea to head to the concession stand for a “prairie dog”. There were few sustained scoring drives in this game and Nazareth was about to be on the wrong end of another. On the next play and just thirteen seconds later, Catholic had another score. Kiernan hit Eastman for an 80 yard TD pass. Platt was good again with the PAT and with 8:26 it was 21-0 JCA.
Nazareth went 3 and out after an interception attempt went thru Adam Saxon’s hands, and it was a punt back to Catholic. Nazareth’s punter hit some booming punts, this one pinning JCA down at their own 13.
Did I say “pinning them down?”
My mistake.
Benson ran for 5, Clancy took off for 42 yards down the right side to the Nazareth 38. Kiernan hit Clancy for another 10 yards. McKeon finished it with a 28 yard run with 4:55 left in the second quarter. Platt added the PAT and it was 28-0.
Keane nailed the ensuing kick off to the Nazareth 20 which landed with a backspin and died 5 yards from the sideline. I only wish my chip shots had that much bite on the greens.
Nazareth goes three and out after picking up 3 yards on three plays, and punted from the 23 back to Jack Eastman who was handling the punt return duties.
Junior Luke Musslemann came into the game replacing Kiernan at QB, junior Dan Hrvatin came in at wingback, Clancy stayed in the game and shifted to fullback, Dan Miller was in at end, and junior Thomas Zurliene was in at running back for the next series.
Hrvatin had a huge hole to run through to a TD in but slipped down on the wet field, Zurliene ran for 2 on the left side. Musslemann hit Clancy down the left side for 20 yards, and with 1:37 left in the half, Hrvatin got another chance and made good on it. A fifteen yard run around the right side for a TD. A Platt PAT and it was 35-0.
Nazareth punted on the last play of the half, it went out of bounds and the clock ran out. Catholic 35-0 at the half.
The Second Half
The second half kickoff saw McKeon take the kick and produce an unbelievable spinning return to the 33 which he nearly broke for a TD. Kiernan, Clancy, Benson, and McKeon returned to their familiar positions at the start of the second half.
Benson went right for 14 yards to the 46. On the next play, “fastest man winner” Benson took it 54 yards for a TD. Once he broke into the open field, it was pretty much assured that no one was going to catch him from behind. Benson’s score and Platt’s PAT made it 42-0 with 11:06 left in the game. IHSA rules dictated a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Nazareth took over at their own 30, Alex Duffy had a nice pursuit play refusing to give RB Steve Gray the corner on a swing pass. An incomplete pass brought up another punting situation.
In the second series of the second half Coach Sharp gave the opposition something else to think about. Dan Hrvatin took over at quarterback. Hrvatin handed off to Clancy who went 55 yards for a TD that featured a terrific downfield block by Hrvatin on the TD run. 7:02 left in the third. The PAT snap was bobbled and the run no good, 48-0.
Nazareth fumbled on their own 37 and Catholic recovered. Hrvatin returned at wingback, Musslemann at QB with Neil Severson at end, Chris Terdic, Kevin Boyd, Joe Britvich on the line, Ryan Barrett at TE.
Hrvatin ran for 7, following carries by Benson and Zurliene, Hrvatin went to the 15, and the 3rd quarter ended.
Benson went around the left end , 15 yards, for a TD making the score 54 –0. The following PAT made it 55-0 with 11:05 left in the game.
Dominique Nunn, Joe Plese, Mike Vertin, Adam Kurator, Tony Testin, & Lou Stasko, along with 6’0” 215 sophomore linebacker Kevin Rouse played most of the final quarter.
While Luke Musslemann was quarterback in the 4th quarter, Jeff Peterson (that’s the 4th QB on the day if your counting) took the final two snaps in the game.
As is usually the case, Chris Jeske was all over the field defensively, juniors Nick Metzger, and Dan Cranmer had a very good games on the defensive line.
Did I mention offensive weapons? Clancy, Benson, McKeon, Hrvatin, and Eastman all had big days. Of course none of those runs would be possible if the offensive line wasn’t opening holes for them to run through.
John Kiernan turned in a very impressive game today as well, there’s a big difference between taking over a position while someone like Brad Bourg is injured – like last year – and being the field general when it’s your team. Kiernan showed the same poise and quick reads in the pocket he showed us last year.
After the game I talked to Coach Sharp.
You came out throwing, that was a bit of a surprise wasn’t it? “They put nine men in the box right from the start, and we took advantage of it.”
“Teams scouting us for a game down the road might think twice about crowding the line of scrimmage on us.”
“We probably threw the ball 5-6 times a game last year, we used Brad Bourg more running the ball and throwing off the run. John is a drop pack passer, and very good at it, he gives us that for the first time since maybe when Tomasino was here.”
“Nazareth is much improved, I’ll tell you their quarterback is a heck of a football player, and a great athlete. He could be the best tailback, quarterback . . . heck he could probably play free safety if he wanted to.”
“Dennis Moran is one of the finest coaches around, he gets the most from his players. He’s taken a small school program and is playing in a conference with big schools. That’s not an easy thing to do. I wish him nothing but success, I think he’s on the right track. They can, and will make some noise in the conference.”
This was exactly as Coach Sharp predicted it would be, quick and explosive. “I think we had 3 one play drives, and we have that three headed beast in the backfield.”
“Billy McKeon’s kickoff return was something, the entire backfield was terrific. The we bring in Hrvatin and didn’t miss a beat. We have a great group of skill guys, the key will be to continue to develop the line. We had a very positive performance today from the line. Those are things we can build on, and we need the depth. Our league is extremely physical, having that kind of depth is a great asset.”
Line play you were somewhat concerned about, but a great performance today. “We used three tackles, and three guards throughout the game, our center play was great. I’m very pleased to be honest with you, but you have to look at what we have – Dave Douglas is running the show there and he does such a great job preparing these kids. He gets guys ready, that’s all there is to it.”
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, by no means are we were we need to be to win this league, but after game one . . . we have a lot of positives after this.”
“We had a very disciplined line today, only a few mistakes, we stayed on our blocks . . . we have guys in the backfield that make guys miss. If we just give them enough room to get through they’ll do the rest.”
“The thing I’m always worried about is protection, they did a nice job protecting Kiernan, and John read the blitz well. “
I was very impressed with the number of weapons this team has, “We want to force the opposition to take something way, then we’ll counter with something they aren’t looking for. They wanted to take away the off tackle play, so John countered with a couple post routes. If they bring the safeties up, we’ll take advantage of them.”
“Kick coverage was very good for the first game. We just missed blocking three punts this game.”
Tell me about Rouse, the sophomore LB that came in the third quarter. “Because of the number of linebackers we have he’s going to play at least a half with the sophomores. But he has the size to play here, if we need a bigger kid against a bigger team, we’ll use him. But we’re not going to have him here and lose repetitions on the sophomore level. Our conference allows 6 quarters per player, so we’ll use that to our advantage if we can. We hope he’ll replace Jeske in the middle next year.”
Watching this team play you can’t help but be impressed with the number of players that can change any game with the ball in their hands. JCA may have had more talented players in a given year, but never this many talented players on the same team. If I were scouting this team after today’s game, it’s clear you cannot key on any one, two or three players on this team.
If the Hilltoppers can be this effective consistently, the opposition will be left wondering what hit them.
As for Nazareth, they’re a talented team that wore down in the second half. Zavagnin is a very talented QB, and he has wide-outs that are tall and find the open field well while he scrambles in the backfield. I’ll go on record predicting they will upset someone in the conference this season. The have too much talent not to.
|
eMail
JolietCatholicFootball
"Any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is
that moment he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted
on the field of battle . . . victorious."
Vince Lombardi
Our Lady of Victory . . .
Pray for Us!
Contents of this site may not be used without prior written permission.
|
|
|
