Montini rallies in win

Tom DiCristina and Montini wore down Marian Central and rallied for a 35-27 victory Saturday in Lombard.

“We own the second half,” said DiCristina, who threw for a touchdown and ran for three more in the second half as the Broncos (7-0, 4-0) rallied from a 20-7 halftime deficit.

“That is where we play even harder and turn on the afterburners. We could tell that they were getting tired and that gave us even more motivation to make them even more tired.”

After Montini took a 7-0 lead on an eight-yard run by DiCristina, Marian Central (4-3, 3-2) scored 20 consecutive points.

Jared Koch had a five-yard run and Andrew Stochl scored on a one-yard run. Stochl also connected Adam Szudarski on a 56-yard touchdown pass with 11.1 second left in the first half as the Hurricanes seized control early.

“We didn’t panic,” Montini coach Chris Andriano said. “We knew that they had quite a few kids going both ways and we just wanted to make sure that they had to play all four quarters.”

The Broncos scored on their next three possessions with DiCristina scoring on runs of one and nine yards. He also tossed a six-yard pass to Christian Westerkamp. DiCristina completed the comeback by scoring his fourth touchdown on a one yard run to make it 35-20 with 4:07 to play.

Marian Central closed to 35-27 with 2:03 left on a one-yard run by Stochl, but Montini recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.