St Edward falls short of making playoffs

Updated: December 28, 2011 7:35PM

It was do or done for the St. Edward football team Friday night.

The Green Wave needed to beat Suburban Christian Blue Division opponent St. Francis to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Instead, the Spartans used a 42-point first half to top St. Edward 49-21 at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

“We wanted this one so bad,” St. Edward senior Ryan Johnson said. “It meant a lot to us seniors. We practiced so hard. When we came here, we knew we were going to leave it all out on the field.”

St. Francis, which won its third consecutive game, will make its fourth straight trip to the postseason with its 7-2 overall record (3-2 in conference play). The Green Wave, loser of its final four contests, capped the 2011 campaign at 4-5 overall, 1-4 in league action.

“This year was rough, but we gave it our all,” Johnson said. “We have no regrets.”

“Regardless of this outcome, we had a great year,” St. Edward quarterback Robert French added. “We moved up in the higher (conference) division and played a lot better teams. We stuck with them for the most part. It came down to big plays. We got overmatched in a couple games, but we played hard until the end.”

St. Francis scored four times before St. Edward scored once. Johnson’s 75-yard run reduced the Spartans lead to 27-7 with 2:43 left in the half.

St. Francis, however, would go on to finish the quarter with two more scores. About a minute and a half after Johnson scored, Dan Beck tallied his second touchdown of the game. The first was on a 5-yard run. The second was a 4-yard run.

As time expired at the break, St. Francis quarterback Nick Donati connected with Jeff Rutowski for the third time. Rutowski recorded a 31-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game, a 16-yard laser pass from Donati that opened the second and a 40-yard bullet from Donati again with zeroes on the clock. The Spartans scored 29 points in the quarter.

In the second half, the Spartans led by as many as 42 points after Rutowski’s fourth score of the game — a 6-yard run. With 2:04 left in the third, French found Matt Brockner in the end zone for an 18 yard pass. In the fourth quarter, the Green Wave scored the final touchdown of the year on a 65-yard run by Luke Duffy.

“I was proud with as close as we were,” St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. “St. Francis made good plays and they have good athletes. We could almost keep up, but not quite.”

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