St. Edward inches closer to playoffs
Calling a game in the fifth week a must-win might be a bit of an exaggeration, but that was the way the St. Edward football team felt Friday night.
With the four teams remaining on the schedule a combined 16-4, the Green Wave needed to beat Walther Lutheran at Greg True Field. That way St. Edward would only need one victory in those final four games to become playoff eligible for the third consecutive season.
The Green Wave got the job done, even if it wasn’t pretty. Luke Duffy and Ryan Johnson each scored two touchdowns as St. Edward beat the Broncos, 49-21.
“It was a must-win,” said Duffy, a senior who finished with 218 yards of offense. “I don’t know how to say it other than that. We’ve got four tough games coming up.”
Now one victory likely would get St. Edward (4-1, 1-1) in the postseason. The Green Wave host Marian Central (5-0) and Montini (3-2) the next two weeks. Montini is the two-time defending Class 5A state champions, beating Marian Central during the playoffs both seasons. The Green Wave finish the season traveling to Aurora Christian (4-1), a Class 3A quarterfinalist a season ago, and St. Francis (4-1), a team that has lost to Montini in the first round of the playoffs each of the last two seasons.
“We’ve got ranked teams from here on out,” St. Edward coach Mike Roland said. “Any play like the mistakes we made today could cost us a game. We need to shore that stuff up. We need to fight week in and week out and fight to get that fifth win.”
The Green Wave lost 3 fumbles, two of them leading to Walther Lutheran touchdowns. But St. Edward had enough offense to overcome the mistakes.
Duffy had a 6-yard touchdown run and caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Bob French. Johnson had touchdown runs of 7 and 5 yards. DeVontae Elam added a 3-yard touchdown run as the Green Wave lead 36-7 at halftime.
French threw a second touchdown pass, this one to Daniel Jaimes in the third quarter, and Will Bothwell had a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
St. Edward rushed for 301 yards on 43 carries. Duffy finished with 133 yards rushing and 86 yards receiving. Johnson (59), Bothwell (59) and Elam (50) all had 50 or more yards rushing. French was 12-for-19 for 159 yards.