THE WRIGHT TIME

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NEW LENOX -- Somehow it only seemed Wright that it should come down to this.

Providence Catholic High School senior Pat Wright, one of the state's top kickers, boomed a 27-yard field goal through the uprights Saturday afternoon -- moments after teammate Pete Houlihan had blocked Joliet Catholic Academy's field goal attempt -- to give the Celtics a 24-21 overtime victory over the Hilltoppers in a classic Class 6A second-round playoff matchup.

Did you expect anything less?

Perhaps early on because the Celtics (7-4) came out like gangbusters, marching 80 yards in 7 plays and 79 in 10 plays for touchdowns on two of their first three possessions to grab a 14-0 lead. Worse yet for the Hilltoppers (8-3), they appeared to have no answer for stopping Providence junior tailback Tim Hanrahan.

But once the necessary halftime adjustments were made and JCA senior running back Tyler Hudetz stepped front and center, it was game on.

"It might have looked like it was going to be nice and easy," Providence coach Mark Coglianese said. "We had the momentum and confidence. But you knew they would come back. It became a game of adjustments. They changed their formations and blocking schemes and got back in it. Give them credit for that."

"We had the jitters in the beginning," Hudetz said. "In the second half, you saw a different group of guys. We knew we could come back. That's what JCA is all about."

Hudetz carried nine times and gained all the yards in a 10-play, 80-yard march that got the Hilltoppers on the scoreboard with 3:34 left in the third quarter. The touchdown came when Hudetz popped free on fourth-and-1 play from the Providence 33. Rob Cranmer's conversion kick made it 14-7.

The Celtics responded, however. Tight end Steve Arthurs took a short pass from quarterback Mike Hoffmeister in the left flat, broke two tackles and raced up the sideline to complete a 34-yard play to the JCA 36.

Hanrahan, who rushed for 147 of his 191 yards in the first half, broke a 23-yarder to the 13 on the next play. Then on third-and-6 from the 9, Hoffmeister rolled left and found Cody Cleveland alone in the end zone for a 9-yard TD pass and a 21-7 lead.

Back came the Hilltoppers. Hudetz returned Wright's kickoff 47 yards to the Celtics 40. Two plays later, quarterback Matt Ginnetti found sophomore tight end Alex Kolodziej deep over the middle for 34 yards, setting up a first-and-goal at the 4. Hudetz scored from the 1 with 11:21 left in the game, but the score remained 21-13 when the kick sailed wide left.

Time was becoming more and more precious when Providence's Arthurs caught a pass from Hoffmeister and battled for extra yardage. But in the process, he fumbled and JCA middle linebacker Josh Mander, who blocked a punt early on and was in on double-digit tackles, recovered at the Providence 28 with 5:32 left.

"That was tough when they came back and scored to go ahead 21-7 after we had gotten within a touchdown, but then our defense got the big turnover," JCA coach Dan Sharp said.

Following Mander's fumble recovery, fullback Calvin Smith, who transferred from Providence to JCA before the season, picked up 4 yards on fourth-and-1 from the 19. Hudetz ran the next three plays to set up fourth-and-3 from the 8, and then Ginnetti went up top, finding Kolodziej in the back of the end zone off play action for a touchdown to slice the deficit to 21-19 with 1:45 left.

On the two-point conversion, Hudetz powered off the left side and carried a couple of tacklers over the goal line to tie it 21-21.

"We had to use our special goal line plays there to score and tie it up, and then we didn't have them for the overtime," Sharp noted.

Providence defensive end Dan Burke then made one of those huge plays that do not show up in the box score, falling on the ensuing kickoff just before a group of JCA players arrived on the scene.

Overtime it was, with both offenses operating with first down at the 10.

Providence won the toss and went on defense first. JCA used two Hudetz runs to reach the 6, and Ginnetti overthrew Kolodziej in the back corner of the end zone on third down, setting up a Cranmer field goal try. But the snap was a bit high, and by the time Cranmer finally did kick it, Houlihan had flown in from the left side and was there for the block, his fourth of the season.

"It's the biggest one by far," said Houlihan, who made a couple of touchdown-saving tackles from his cornerback position as Hudetz was about to break away. Still, Hudetz finished with 220 yards in 39 carries after having 5 yards in 3 carries in the first quarter.

"I was confident our defense was going to stop them there in the overtime," Wright said. "They've been playing great."

Thanks to Houlihan's block, all the Celtics had to do was keep the ball in the middle of the field and turns things over to their prime-time kicker. Coglianese opted for the field goal on third down, and Wright was true from 27 yards.

"JCA, second round, overtime, oh, yeah, I was feeling some pressure," said Wright, who is 9-of-12 on field goals for the season but narrowly missed a 36-yarder in the second quarter that would have extended Providence's early lead to 17-0.

"One of the things we pride ourselves in is special teams, and special teams beat us today," Sharp said. "We put ourselves in the hole when we didn't score on offense first in the overtime. The way the defenses were playing, it kind of came down to the coin flip."

Providence, which will host Rock Island in next week's quarterfinals, held a 312-261 advantage in total yards as Hanrahan rushed for 191 in 36 carries and Hoffmeister completed 7-of-11 passes for 131. Hudetz's 220 rushing yards and Ginnetti's two big completions to Kolodziej represented a majority of the JCA offense.

It's called doing what you do best.

"Even when we were down 14 points in one quarter, we knew it would be a back-and-forth kind of game," Hudetz said. "We shot ourselves in the foot a few times, but Providence has a great team, and you have to give them the credit."