| JCA belts Benet for 3rd straight win |
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By Mike Fitzgerald
special to the Herald News
Joliet Catholic Academy's solid effort on both sides of the ball merited a 54-12 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory Friday night over Benet Academy.
"Our defense is still a work in progress, but they did an excellent job of shutting down a real good offense," Hilltoppers coach Dan Sharp said. "The key was to get ahead early. We needed to get a good start. I'm very pleased with all facets of the game. I thought we played very well."
JCA (3-2, 3-0) went three-and-out on its first drive before scoring 14 points on its next two. A Mike Budzinski punt return put JCA at the Benet 34. Running back Brandon Geiss took it 34 yards on the next play and Gabe Suhadolc added the extra point to make it 7-0.
The Hilltoppers' next drive yielded seven more points. JCA quarterback John Ruettiger found end Coby Fleener for a 33-yard pass to move the ball to the Benet 16. Running back Connor Krisch scored on the next play to make it 14-0. Another JCA stop gave it the ball at the Benet 35. Krisch scored from 15 yards out six plays later to make it 21-0.
Benet (2-3, 1-2) sandwiched two touchdowns around another JCA score, this one a 10-yard run by Ruettiger to make it 28-12 with 1:30 to in the first half. The Hilltoppers took the ball at their 36 with 1:22 left and marched 64 yards in seven plays to make it 35-12 at halftime. Ruettiger connected with Fleener four times for a total of 54 yards on the drive.
The Redwings drove the opening kickoff of the third quarter to the JCA 19 before safety Nick Clancy intercepted quarterback David Case at the 2 to stop the Benet scoring drive. The Hilltoppers, who have won three straight, reached their own 46 before they had to punt. Benet took over at its 6.
The Redwings reached the 17 before JCA defensive end Dan Ochs sacked Case for the second time, this one for a 9-yard loss. Linebacker Ryan Searls intercepted Case on the next play and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown to make it 41-12.
"We knew they were going to come out and pass the ball on us," Searls said. "We had a good game plan. We made some good halftime adjustments, and we were able to cover them in the second half. Our coverages changed. We changed up to two-deep safety. We played cover 2.
"It was like slow motion for me. The ball was coming right to me. It was like I was playing receiver on the play. As soon as I got it, I was off. It's always fun to get a TD on defense."
Running back Tyler Hudetz added a 2-yard run for one score and running back Trent Feeney added the last score for JCA on a 3-yard run.
The Hilltoppers piled up 431 yards of offense and 25 first downs. Geiss had 121 yards on 14 carries, Hudetz 49 on 10 carries and Krisch 86 yards on 7 carries. Ruettiger finished 5-of-11 for 87 yards, all to Fleener.
"Three-and-2 and 2-3 is really big (record-wise), especially when you look at our schedule down the road," Sharp said. "This was a playoff atmosphere week for us. We really had to approach it that way. We had to go 3-2 or we would have been in big trouble in trying to make the playoffs."
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