St. Edward notches easy win at Hamilton
It was a fruitful road trip for the St. Edward football team Saturday.
The Green Wave outgained host West Hancock 325 yards to 70 to win a nonconference meeting in Warsaw, Ill., 43-0. Senior running back DaVontae Elam rushed for 2 touchdowns as St. Edward (2-0) bolted to a 29-0 halftime lead and never relented.
“Because of the Internet our kids knew the size of their kids and the fact that they only have 10 upperclassmen on the roster, so they expected to win,” St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. “The game was actually a little more competitive than they thought it would be with us leading only 15-0 after the first quarter.
“But we spread the ball around a little more than we did last week. We threw it a little better with some short, possession-type completions, which we wanted to do.”
Elam’s 15-yard run and 2-point conversion run staked the Green Wave to an early 8-0 lead, which grew to 15-0 when sophomore Dwayne Allen, Jr. broke off a 30-yard scoring run and junior Joe French converted the first of his 5 point-after attempts.
The Titans averted worse damage with a first-quarter interception, which allowed them to burn a bit of clock. However, the Wave scored twice more in the second quarter to take a stranglehold. Elam capped a drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and junior Nick Duffy scored on a 35-yard pass from junior quarterback Bryan O’Neill, who alternated plays throughout the game with junior quarterback Joe Mullen.
West Hancock (0-1), playing its season opener, requested the third and fourth quarters be reduced to eight minutes with a running clock, a request St. Edward accepted, Rolando said. Still, the Wave scored twice more in the second half. Mullen connected with Mikey Castoro in the third quarter for a 55-yard touchdown pass, and junior Danny Favela barged into the end zone in the fourth quarter from 1 yard out to finish the scoring.
St. Edward now turns its attention to a Week 3 battle of unbeatens against Marmion (2-0). The Wave will face the Cadets in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division opener in Aurora on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“I’m not sure quite what we have yet, but we’ll find out this week with Marmion,” Rolando said. “It’s a (Class) 6A school with 60 kids on the sideline, so we’ll see what we’re made of. Our kids are confident and have a great vibe going, a great attitude. They play hard, we have some skilled kids, talented quarterbacks and a big line. If it keeps coming together, we’re hoping to be pretty competitive in all 9 games.”