High School Football: Joliet Catholic Academy crushes Crete-Monee

Joliet Catholic's Tyler Hudetz felt ill coming into Friday's Class 6A playoff game with Crete-Monee.

The Warriors shared the feeling soon enough, falling behind 10-0 before so much as running a play from scrimmage en route to a 30-6 loss in Joliet.

The Hilltoppers (8-2) took the opening kickoff and marched downfield in 14 plays, a 6-minute 30-second drive culminating in a 34-yard field goal by Rob Cranmer.

Crete's Adrian McElveen bobbled the ensuing kickoff, then was hit and coughed up the ball. Steve Fehrenbacher recovered at the 27.

Hudetz scored on the next play, and the stage was set for an evening of frustration for the Warriors (6-4).

"We tried to give them some different looks, do some different things," Crete coach Jerry Verde said. "Obviously, it didn't work out all that well. Joliet Catholic is a very good team. The coaching staff is really, really great. They got us. We made mistakes in that first quarter that we never did recover from."

Hudetz, meanwhile, recovered well enough from a midweek bout of the flu to pass former NFL great Mike Alstott on JCA's all-time rushing list.

Hudetz combined for 262 yards rushing and receiving. Of that total, 186 yards - plus three touchdowns - came on 27 rushes.

Hudetz boosted his four-year rushing total to 4,004. Alstott ran for 3,839 yards from 1989-91. He later went on to earn All-Big Ten honors at Purdue. He played 12 years in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. J.R. Zwierzynski is JCA's all-time leading rusher with 5,070 yards from 1998-2001.

Hudetz pulled off his heroics running into the teeth of a seven-man defensive front as Crete-Monee stacked the line of scrimmage.

"He may be No. 2 on the list, but tonight he's No. 1 in our hearts, isn't he?" JCA coach Dan Sharp said. "He's an amazing young man. And he did it with a 102-degree temperature. He has a terrible flu bug. I sent him home from practice Wednesday. He missed all day yesterday. He really looked groggy in school today.

"But I guess he took a page out of Michael Jordan's book. When you're sick and you have the flu, you just go out and have one of your best performances. And this team was really geared up. They were overplaying Tyler (Hudetz). And that's why (Dave) Janicki made some big plays. Calvin Smith had some nice runs. And, then, our quarterback, Matt Ginnetti, made some great plays. And Hudetz helped us catching ball."

JCA moves on to face rival Providence Catholic in Round 2 next weekend in New Lenox. The Celtics (6-4) blanked Oak Forest 30-0 to do their part in setting up a battle that will be hyped all week.

Ginnetti completed 6 of 10 passes for 85 yards.

Justin Roudez completed 12 of 20 for 122 yards and had a 5-yard touchdown run to top Crete.

Brian Hatwood rushed for 78 yards on seven carries.