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Ewing’s efforts sparks Nazareth in win
Updated: October 8, 2011 6:21PM
A week after Nazareth pulled off one of its biggest football wins ever, Kalium Ewing made a little history of his own.
The senior had the first two interception returns for touchdowns of his career to punctuate a big day for the Nazareth defense in a 42-13 East Suburban Catholic win over Notre Dame Saturday afternoon in LaGrange Park.
Coming off a road win over Joliet Catholic, No. 15 Nazareth (6-1, 6-1) took a while to settle in before a big homecoming crowd. Notre Dame (3-4, 2-4) scored first and the Roadrunners didn’t get a first down until early in the second period.
The slow start aside, Ewing and quarterback Sam Poulos knew they’d have to look ahead, not behind.
“All week they were stressing it,” Poulos said of Nazareth’s coaches. “We knew how big of a game it was coming off a big win.”
“We tried not to focus anything on that game,” Ewing said. “We tried to focus on this game and everything that was going on today.”
Plenty went on in the third quarter, which began with the teams tied and ended with Nazareth up 42-7. Ewing’s first pick six, a 42-yarder, gave the Roadrunners a 14-7 lead with 10:54 left in the quarter. Notre Dame lost a fumble two plays later and two plays after that, Joshua Moore scored from a yard out with 9:41 left.
Poulos’ second touchdown pass of the day, a 12-yarder to Daniel Callaghan, pushed the lead to 28-7 at 6:18 of the third quarter. The Roadrunners scored twice more in the next 17 seconds, first on Ewing’s 25-yard interception return and then on Thomas Gray’s 12-yard fumble return, and suddenly it was 42-7 with 6:01 still to play in the third quarter.
“We just came out with more intensity,” Ewing said. “We came out playing better, harder, faster.”
“There was six minutes I’d just as soon forget,” Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey said. “You take away those six minutes, we’ve got a ballgame. ... They’re a good team, they contributed to that. But a lot of it was just our own mistakes.”
Poulos (6 of 8, 98 yards) also hit Sean Maloney with a short pass that Maloney turned into a 66-yard touchdown in the second period. Moore had 94 yards on 17 carries for the Roadrunners.
Nick Pieruccini (17 of 38, 176 yards, three interceptions) threw two touchdown passes for Notre Dame, a 28-yarder to Connor Gavin in the first quarter and a 13-yarder to Dan Nagode in the fourth quarter.
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