Knights race to wild SCC victory over Marmion

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Immaculate Conception junior Carlos Rodriguez has been bothered by a back injury for a couple of weeks.

He was too busy Saturday to notice the pain, however.

The two-way standout rushed for 192 yards on 15 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Knights to a wild 40-38 Suburban Catholic Conference win over Marmion Academy in Aurora.

"You really don't think about it (in a big) game like this," Rodriguez said. "It still bothers me a little bit, but you just play as hard as you can and do the best you can."

IC (4-3, 3-2 in SCC) needed every bit of Rodriguez's production.

The Knights clung to a 14-6 lead after three quarters, but the two teams combined for 56 points in an explosive fourth quarter.

The game came down to the final minute. The Knights led 33-32 and were driving deep in Marmion territory when the Cadets, looking to give themselves some time for a final drive, purposely let IC quarterback Will Cronin run 15 yards up the middle for a touchdown to put the Knights ahead 40-32 following an extra-point kick by Olivia Vatch with 1 minute, 13 seconds remaining.

Marmion (2-5, 0-5 in SCC), led by quarterback Ricky Bird (14-for-29 passing, 328 yards, 5 TDs), quickly stormed downfield and pulled within 40-38 when Sean Fichtel (6 catches, 145 yards, 2 TDs) caught a 13-yard TD pass from Bird with 24.4 seconds left. IC's Jose Godinez, however, intercepted the conversion pass for the Knights, who then recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

"It was back and forth like a see-saw," said IC senior Paul Hornstra, who contributed 186 yards on 22 carries and two TDs. "It was a war until the end. When it mattered, we stopped them. I've never played in a game like this before. It was phenomenal out there. It's a good 1-2 punch (with Rodriguez) and the line was awesome."

IC, which beat Marmion for the first time in four years, jumped ahead for good at 14-8 when Hornstra scored on a 27-yard run with 6:57 left in the third quarter, but the Knights never were able to put the Cadets away until the end.

Rodriguez gave the Knights a 20-12 lead with an 8-yard TD run two plays into the fourth quarter, but Marmion answered when Matt Pircon (5 catches, 158 yards, 3 TDs) caught a 4-yard TD pass from Bird to trim the deficit to 20-16. Rodriguez needed just one play to increase IC's lead to 26-16 when he scampered 65 yards for a TD with 9:05 left. The fireworks continued when Bird and Pircon hooked up on a 54-yard TD pass just 1:05 later to make the score 26-24.

Rodriguez added his third touchdown on IC's next drive, this time on a 51-yard run to put the Knights ahead 33-24 after Vatch's key extra-point kick with 4:52 remaining. Three plays later, Pircon caught a 75-yard TD bomb from Bird and Fichtel caught a two-point conversion pass to bring the Cadets within 33-32 to set the stage for the dramatic finish.

Rodriguez, who also is a defensive back, hurt his back trying to throw a block on a punt return during IC's game against Driscoll in Week 5 and has been getting therapy for the injury.

He had just one carry for minus-1 yard in the first half, but was forced into increased duty in the second half when running back Rob Peachey injured his shoulder in the first half and did not return.

"He looks fine to me," IC coach Bill Schmidt said of Rodriguez. "We told Carlos with Peachey going down, he was going to have to play 24 minutes of both sides of the ball, run down on punts and do all kinds of stuff. To his credit, he came out and played like a man in the second half."

IC had 450 yards of total offense, including 336 in the second half. Marmion had 435 yards with Bird completing 9 of 16 passes for 221 yards and four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

The Knights rushed for 413 yards behind linemen Matt Purdom, Robert Rivera, Marco Medinah, Josh Fenton and Dan Delaney.

"The bottom line was that our offensive line got off the ball," Schmidt said. "We won the line of scrimmage and when you win up front, you're going to win some ball games."