Hurricanes wash over Green Wave

St. Edward's Josh Scholly tries to escape the grasp of two Marian Central players during Friday night's game at Greg True Field in Elgin.
MICHAEL SMART | Staff Photographer

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ELGIN -- St. Edward was unable to get anything going offensively all night as it lost to Marian Central 28-7 on Friday night at Greg True Field.

The Green Wave (3-2 1-2) struggled to move the ball on the ground, which has been the staple of its offense all season. St. Edward managed only 115 yards rushing on 28 carries, and in all only ran 42 plays from scrimmage.

Trailing 14-0 heading into halftime, the Wave had a chance to build some momentum when Josh Scholly picked off an Andrew Stochl pass and returned it 42 yards to the Marian 6-yard line with 18 seconds to go. A 15-yard personal foul penalty pushed St. Edward back, though, and it had to settle for a 35-yard field-goal attempt which was blocked.

"That was a huge play for us at the time," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "We had the ball inside the 10 with a timeout left and a real good chance to build some momentum going into the break, but we just couldn't capitalize.

After withstanding a long Marian drive to open the second half and force a punt, the Green Wave was again unable to cash in on the momentum boost as it botched a hand off on their first play, giving Marian (3-2, 2-1) the ball back on the Wave 33-yard line. Five plays later, a Brandon Smith touchdown extended the Marian lead to 21-0.

St. Edward did manage to get on the board when John Heugh ran for a score from four yards out, plowing through a defender on his way to the end zone and giving the large homecoming crowd a reason to cheer.

"I told coach I wanted the ball and I didn't want to let him down," Heugh said. "I saw the defender coming and was able to go right through him. After that my line got a good push and I was able to get it in the end zone."

Added Rolando: "John stepped up for us tonight. He wanted the ball in his hands and he really willed it in on that touchdown run."

The Green Wave finally managed to move the ball through the air on its final possession as Cory Diaz completed two long third-down passes, but the final drive abruptly ended when Adam Szudarski intercepted Diaz, wrapping up the game.

Jimmy Mathisen led the Wave in rushing with 14 carries for 71 yards, including a big 36-yard run that set up the Heugh touchdown. Along with an interception, Josh Scholly led the Wave in receiving with two grabs for 27 yards, both coming on the Wave's final drive.

Defensively, Jon Godfrey and Ryan Eigenhauser each tallied a sack for St. Edward.

Following the game, the team seemed ready to put this loss behind them.

"When two good football teams match-up, the team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to come out on top, and we just made way too many costly mistakes tonight," Rolando said. "But we'll work on those things in practice this week and come out ready to go next week.

Added Heugh: "This was just one game. We just need to get back at in practice this week. We need two more wins to make the playoffs and it starts with Driscoll next week."