De La Salle 'D' rebounds vs. Friars

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

After being torched for 46 points last week, De La Salle’s defense pitched its third shutout of the season in a 9-0 victory over visiting Fenwick Friday night. The win puts the Meteors (8-4) in the Catholic League finals against either St. Laurence or Loyola, who meet Saturday in Wilmette.

‘‘Their best runner (Greg Killingsworth) had trouble cutting on our field,’’ defensive tackle Nate Bowman said. ‘‘Our offense really helped us out too when they controlled the ball for most of the game.’’

De La Salle missed several chances in the first half, as it was inside the 20-yard line three times. Each time the Meteors came up empty, and the game was scoreless at the half. With 2:11 left in the third quarter, De La Salle’s Tom Lally completed a fourth-down pass to D.J. Bland, who raced 30 yards for the game’s only touchdown to complete a six play, 65-yard drive.

‘‘I saw the defender coming from the outside, so I cut inside and it was clear sailing all the way,’’ said Bland, who caught four passes for 49 yards.

The Meteors put the game away when Juan Gonzalez kicked a 40-yard field goal to cap a 14-play drive for a 9-0 lead with 5:36 remaining.

‘‘When Juan made that field goal, I could see they were hanging their heads,’’ said Lally, who completed six of nine passes for 66 yards.

The Meteors’ ground game was led by Mark Kasper, who rushed 25 times for 184 yards.

‘‘Even though I didn’t score, we controlled the ball, and that’s just important because we won the game,’’ Kasper said.

Playing strong defense for De La Salle were Bowman, Ed Keating, Ryan Martinez, Curtis Blades and Mike Wiggins.

Fenwick coach Joe DiCaneo knew his team was dominated. The Friars (7-5) did not reach midfield in the second half.

‘‘We never had the ball enough to get into a rhythm,’’ DeCaneo said. ‘‘Their touchdown pass wasn’t because of bad coverage, it came after a missed tackle.’’