Montini edges Marmion

This time Jordan Westerkamp beat Marmion with his feet.

The all-state Montini receiver scored on a 4-yard end around, sprinting from right to left to go in untouched with 5:07 left in the Broncos’ 13-6 Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division victory at John Duffy Field in Lombard on Friday.

“Most teams expect me to catch touchdown passes, so we caught them off guard with a little end around there. It was wide open. The coaches called a great play,” said the Nebraska-bound Westerkamp, who last year beat Marmion with a touchdown catch in overtime.

Montini (2-1, 1-0) required a great play to reach the red zone, an effort Marmion coach Dan Thorpe called the key to the game.

Lining up in shotgun formation, erstwhile Montini receiver Joey Borsellino settled a high snap, ran into a logjam at right tackle and bounced outside 48 yards to Marmion’s 23-yard line.

“We talked about it before the game,” Borsellino said. “We called it, ‘Joecat.’ But we said we weren’t going to use it today unless we needed it, and obviously we needed it.”

The Cadets defense stiffened. On fourth-and-2 from the 15-yard line Montini set up for a 32-yard field goal with 6:25 to play. Marmion went offside, and with new life the Broncos made the visitors pay.

“(We) reminded them, they snap down on extra points,” Thorpe said. “And they snapped down on the (field goal) and we jumped. Can’t do that against state championship teams.”

Marmion (1-2, 0-1) is no chump change, a 2010 Class 6A runner-up that gave Montini all it could handle. The Cadets intercepted Montini 3 times, 2 by Jake Ruddy and once by Kyle Kozak.

“It didn’t look good there for awhile,” said Montini coach Chris Andriano.

At the “Joecat,” Borsellino had a 7-yard run to set up usual quarterback Mark Gorogianis’ 1-yard blast at 9:11 of the second quarter for a 6-3 Broncos lead.

Marmion kicker A.J. Friedman opened the scoring with a 40-yard field goal at 4:09 of the first quarter and booted a 35-yarder just before halftime to tie the score 6-6.

The widely recruited senior had a chance for a go-ahead 37-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. The snap got away and holder Kozak’s pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

“Kyle’s been holding for me all four years so we’re really good together,” Friedman said. “And if the line blocks I do the easy job, they have to do the hard job. Just couldn’t come through on the last one.”