| JCA stops Notre Dame |
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By Mike Fitzgerald
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS
NILES — The wet turf and a physical Notre Dame High School football team had Joliet Catholic Academy off balance for the first half of Friday's East Suburban Catholic Conference game, but the Hilltoppers recovered to earn a 28-7 win.
The Dons (3-4, 3-4) opened the game with an empty backfield and four wide receiver set. Senior quarterback Kevin Mitchell drove Notre Dame 80 yards on the first series. Mitchell found wide receiver Frank Pucher with a 15-yard scoring pass to make it 7-0.
The touchdown play came when as Notre Dame faced a fourth-and-13.
JCA (7-0, 7-0) responded with a four-play, 80-yard drive of its own. Senior quarterback John Kiernan found junior Billy McKeon with a 23-yard pass to put JCA at its 34. That play was followed by junior Joe Benson's 66-yard touchdown run to tie the score.
The rest of the first half settled down into a wrestling match with neither team able to dent the scoreboard. The Dons outgained JCA 131-95 in the first half.
"First of all, their defense and their offense came and played with a great game plan and with great intensity," JCA coach Dan Sharp said. "Very seldom does a Joliet Catholic team get beat physically off the ball. But that's what was happening with Notre Dame's defense today. They also came out with no backs which is something we had not seen this season."
The Hilltoppers, the state's top-ranked Class 5A team, made the adjustments on offense and defense which allowed them to open up the game in the second half. JCA began the second half on its 27. A 48-yard by McKeon put JCA at the Don' 25.
Benson scored a play later on a 25-yard run to make it 14-7. Benson led all rushers with 100 yards on 10 carries. McKeon added 97 yards on 12 carries.
The Hilltoppers finished the third quarter with a 65-yard scoring drive which culminated with an 8-yard scoring pass from Kiernan to senior running back Chris Clancy to make it 21-7 with 0:01 remaining in the third quarter.
"It was obvious we weren't playing at our best in the first half," JCA senior center A.J. Tomich said. "In the second half, we needed to bring our game on to the field. The coaches are really good at making adjustments that benefit the team. We just used the defense they were playing to our advantage."
The Hilltoppers' defense picked it up a notch as well. They held the Dons to 78 yards in the second half. Senior defensive lineman Nick Metzger sacked Mitchell twice. Senior linebacker Pete Barney also had a sack.
"We went to the pass rush moves that we knew would work against them," Metzger said. "We brought up an extra lineman which really helped with our pass pressure. We were in a three-man front, but bringing the extra man up allowed us to go one-one-on with their linemen and get the extra pressure on Mitchell."
JCA finished the game's scoring with a late touchdown drive that began at the Notre Dame 24. Kiernan hit receiver Jack Eastman with a 17-yard scoring strike to make it 28-7 with 1:16 remaining in the game.
"I know how much we need rain for green grass, but we are a different team this season," Sharp said. "We are a speed team and a wet field is a great equalizer. We never got into a first-half rhythm on offense. At halftime, we made a few adjustments in our blocking schemes. We went to a few plays that we were going to run against Notre Dame's different defensive looks.
"Our offensive line did a much better job of getting off the ball in the second half at the point of attack. Defensively, I thought we made some good adjustments on the fly. Their quarterback is a great athlete and I thought we did a good job of containing him in the second half," Sharp continued.
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