Montini falls short at Marian
Montini football coach Chris Andriano said after yet another thriller against Suburban Christian Blue Division rival Marian Central that his team might have some soul searching to do.
The Broncos came up a point short in a gut-wrenching 21-20 loss to the No. 3-ranked Hurricanes at George Harding Field in Woodstock on Friday night.
The game featured two late drives the Broncos couldn’t capitalize on. Meanwhile, Marian Central junior quarterback Chris Streveler passed for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for 113 yards and a TD for a thriving Hurricanes offense.
“Down the stretch we get the ball inside the 20-yard line there and we have a stalled offensive drive and the pass interference, which is a loss of down and takes us back and we have to kick the field goal,” Andriano said. “We beat ourselves there.”
With nearly five minutes remaining and Marian Central (4-0, 2-0) in the red zone looking to add to a 1-point lead, defensive back Kyle Nastasowski made what looked to be the biggest play of the game when he intercepted Streveler on the Broncos 5 and returned the football 61 yards to the Marian Central 34-yard line.
Things looked good for Montini, Class 5A’s No. 4-ranked team in the state, even though Marian ran 75 offensive plays to the Broncos’ 32.
Four plays later, Nebraska-bound receiver Jordan Westerkamp, who hauled in a 78-yard touchdown reception in the first half, had a touchdown called back on an offensive pass interference call. It wasn’t the first flag of the night.
Montini (2-2, 1-1) was penalized 11 times for 115 yards, and the pass interference call proved costly. It backed up the Broncos, forcing them to attempt a 45-yard field goal that went wide left with 4:09 remaining.
“There was a lot of flags tonight, but it’s just part of the game,” said Westerkamp, who finished with 2 catches for 81 yards, including a 75-yard kick return in the first half that set up a 10-yard touchdown run for Dimitri Taylor.
Marian Central sucked up the clock for most of the second half. The Broncos snapped two offensive plays in the third quarter, and the Hurricanes had the ball for over 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. That was due to Streveler and the Marian offense, which outgained Montini 448-271 in total yards.
“They executed very well,” Andriano said. “The quarterback was really good. He did a great job, he’s got a very good arm and he can run the football. He’s dangerous, he’s a dual-threat, I thought he was the difference in the game. I knew they’d be good.”
Streveler led one more drive that stalled on the Broncos 24, giving Montini one last hope. It ended three plays later with 53 seconds left when Marian Central’s Nikko Theodorou intercepted a pass.
“Probably the best win I’ve ever had in my life,” Streveler said. “Biggest game I ever played in. This is huge.”
Montini looked pumped up after Dimitri Taylor ran a 91-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Broncos a 20-14. Taylor finished with 134 yards rushing on 10 carries, but Streveler answered for the game’s winning score on a 15-yard pass to tight end Scott Stochl with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter.
Montini was held to just 7 first downs.