St. Edward remains unbeaten in SCC Gold
There were a number of seniors who could have been tabbed as player of the game for St. Edward.
Senior quarterback Ben Lehman threw for 3 touchdowns and rushed for another in the Green Wave's 49-14 victory over Guerin Prep in Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division play Friday night at Greg True Field in Elgin.
Senior running back Jon Keokanlaya rushed up and down Greg True Field for 101 yards on just 12 carries. The senior also punched in touchdown runs of 8 and 2 yards in the first half as St. Edward (5-1, 3-0) scored 35 straight points.
"Jon Keokanlaya ... all those runs up the middle, breaking the tackles," Green Wave coach Mike Rolando said. "I don't think he got brought down by the first, second or third guy all night."
Rolando also pointed out the effort of senior offensive linemen Derek Porto, Zach Trisilla and Kevin Danikowski as a major reason that the Green Wave finished the first half with 190 yards on the ground on 21 carries. St. Edward finished the game with 320 total yards on the ground and had 4 different players rush for more than 40 yards.
Senior receiver Sam Pozezinski returned from injury to grab 2 passes for 77 yards and score a touchdown with 5:30 left in the first half to send Guerin (2-4, 0-3) down 13-0.
But the player who stood out most was senior kicker/receiver Mark Olenek. The senior converted all 7 of his extra points to improve to 28 of 28 on the season and added a 33-yard touchdown reception from Lehman in the victory.
Olenek's efforts allowed St. Edward to take a 35-0 advantage with 5:26 left before halftime when he took a pass from Lehman and scored and then added the extra point.
Even though Gurien Prep would score with 14 seconds left in the first half when quarterback Tom Kelly found John Dabe on a 14-yard pass, the Green Wave answered back with a pair of scores in the second half to force a running clock with a 49-7 lead.
Using a mix of running and passing, Lehman rushed in from 2-yards out to put the Green Wave up 42-0 and then found junior Daniel Jaimes on a 34-yard pass to put St. Edward up 49-7.
Lehman finished the game with 185 passing yards and rushed for 88 more.
"We've been a little run heavy this year, but today we came out and were able to hit them both ways with the run and the pass," Lehman said.