Resurgent Green Wave swamps Hiawatha

St. Edward's Jim Waclawik (33) tries to stand his ground as Kirkland Hiawatha defenders attempt to take him down.
(Patrick Gleason/For the Sun-Times News Group)

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ELGIN -- The future is suddenly looking a whole lot brighter for St. Edward these days.

Not only did the school flip the switch on its permanent new lights for the first time on Saturday night, but winning is starting to become more of the norm for the Green Wave rather than the exception to the rule.

St. Edward opened its new era of enlightenment with a 48-0 trouncing of Kirkland-Hiawatha to begin the year 2-0 for the first time since the 2002 season.

"This is a great day for the St. Edward community," Green Wave coach Mike Rolando said. "The boosters, alumni and fans all pulled together to make a special night happen. We've been through some lean years, but with the new lights and the 2-0 start, there is a real feeling of excitement around here."

From the very start on Saturday, everything went right for St. Edward.

Kirkland fumbled away the ball on the first play of the game and Jon Godfrey recovered for the Green Wave. St. Edward then scored on its first play from scrimmage when Moises Quiroga ran it in from 16 yards out.

Kirkland (1-1) then turned the ball over on its next two possessions to set up two more St. Edward touchdowns. Nathan Gaige had a fumble recovery at the Kirkland 21-yard line, which led to a 17-yard run by David Hoebbel. Jimmy Mathisen then scored on a 19-yard run, following a Gaige interception, to put the Green Wave up 21-0 by the end of the first quarter.

"It was good to see us get some takeaways," Rolando said. "We preach turnovers all the time. Our kids fly to the ball and good things happen when you get to the ball."

The rout continued in the second quarter as St. Edward added a six-yard touchdown run by John Heugh and a 47-yard touchdown run by Quiroga, who finished with 84 yards on seven carries.

"It's great to see our team make some news for doing something positive," Quiroga said. "Usually it's for something not so good. This should give us a lot of confidence and hopefully we can keep adding on some wins."

Hoebbel returned the opening kick of the second half 77 yards to the Kirkland 15-yard line to set up a 15-yard TD run by Mathisen with 11:33 left in the third quarter. That put St. Edward up 41-0 and started a mercy-rule running clock the rest of the way.

Quarterback Cory Diaz added a two-yard touchdown run later in the quarter.

Godfrey, the Green Wave's nose guard, led a defense that held Kirkland to just 58 yards of total offense. St. Edward's defense gave the offense the ball inside of Kirkland territory on every possession except two.

"This feels amazing," Godfrey said. "We've worked so hard for this. Tonight, we just came out and dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball."