Football: Marian Central rallies back to top Tinley Park

What began with so much promise for Tinley Park — a 33-14 advantage with 4:54 remaining in the first-half of Saturday’s Class 5A second-round tilt against Marian Central Catholic — ended in severe disappointment.

Marian Central, behind a determined performance from quarterback Chris Streveler, rallied to register a stunning 55-39 victory over Tinley Park in Woodstock.

The Hurricanes (11-0) advance to play Montini, who it defeated 21-20 back in Week 4 of the regular season, in the 5A quarterfinals.

For Tinley Park (8-3), the defeat was a missed opportunity.

“We gave it all that we had,” Tinley Park coach Nick Johnston said. “Everything that we were doing on offense was working in the first half.”

The problem for Tinley Park, particularly over the final three quarters? Everything it was doing on defense wasn’t working.

Streveler rushed for 185 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 198 yards and three scores to lead the exciting comeback for Marian Central.

“It was a typical game for him,” said Marian Central coach Ed Brucker of his junior QB. “His throwing was a little off. He came up big for us.”

But it was Sam Calderaro’s 5-yard TD run with 9:45 remaining in the third quarter and Trent Faunce’s point-after kick that gave the  Hurricanes a 34-33 lead they would not relinquish. Calderaro contributed 56 yards on 14 carries.

Tinley Park running back Greg Wallace was a workhorse, piling up 218 yards on 34 carries. The senior scored on runs of 68 and 4 yards. Quarterback Kyle Sheridan completed 11-of-19 passes for 200 yards, including two touchdown tosses. He was, however, intercepted three times. Sheridan’s first TD pass to Eldridge Anderson covered 70 yards and the other to Tracey Brandy was 40 yards and brought Tinley Park to within 41-39 with 10:16 remaining. The Titans attempt to tie the game on a two-point conversion was denied by the Hurricanes, though.

Sheridan scored the game’s first touchdown on a 42-yard jaunt and later added a 1-yard score. He finished with 102 yards on eight carries. Preston Thompson contributed a 12-yard TD for Tinley Park.

“They made some adjustments,” Johnston said. “They took away our cut-back lanes, We just couldn’t get in sync in the second-half and we allowed them to convert too many third downs.”

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