advertisement

Benet falters at St. Patrick

St. Patrick extended its undefeated season with a 27-9 victory against Benet on Friday night in an East Suburban Catholic Conference football game in Chicago.

St. Patrick senior quarterback Ryan Tentler led the way for the Shamrocks, tallying 2 rushing touchdowns. Tentler completed his game with 37 yards on 10 rushes and 10-of-25 passing for 113 yards.

St. Patrick (3-0, 2-0) didn’t waste time as it registered the game’s first score in an 80-yard drive. St. Patrick junior running back Quinn Vanderah blasted through to the end zone on an 11-yard run.

“We started 3-0 last year so it’s a great step in a tough conference,” said St. Patrick coach Dan Galante. “Benet has one of the better defenses we’ve faced this year. The defense also really was aggressive for us too.”

After an interception by Benet junior linebacker Tim Veselik on the Redwings’ 1-yard line, the Redwings had a strong drive of their own, taking the ball 80 yards. Benet took the ball down to the St. Patrick 29-yard line, but senior cornerback Jayln Crockrom had different plans.

Crockrom snagged a Benet pass and scampered for a 71-yard interception return touchdown to boost the lead to 14-0.

Although Benet (0-3, 0-3) had its opportunites in the first half to record points, the Redwings couldn’t capitalize on a 32-yard field goal as it sailed wide right.

At halftime St. Patrick remained in front 14-0.

“(The Shamrocks) scored 117 points in their first two games,” said Benet coach Patrick New. “We came up with a lot of plays offensively, but we just couldn’t get it done.”

Benet made tweaks to its game plan in the second half to set up junior kicker Kyle Dal Santo up for a 28-yard field goal to cut the deficit 14-3.

“The defense keeps us in every game,” said Benet quarterback Nick Mankowski. “We need to reward them with a score. The key to this loss is to take the positives and not look at the negatives. Just improve.”

St. Patrick ended Benet’s late-game attempts when it registered two running touchdowns from in the fourth quarter by Tentler.

“We stuck to our game plan pretty much running through the holes,” Mankowski said. “Offensively, things were working pretty well, but we couldn’t capitalize. We controlled the time of possession, but we just couldn’t finish.”

Benet plays Marist at home next Friday.