Joliet Catholic knocks off Wheaton North
Wheaton North senior Michael Bloss once again had two touchdown receptions Friday.
By the time he hauled in passes of 42 and 22 yards, however, Joliet Catholic's offense already had done immense damage.
The Falcons suffered a 41-13 loss to the Hilltoppers in Wheaton to fall to 0-2 for the first time since 2004.
"The big thing for us we always say is day by day we get better and better. No matter what, we're not going to give up," Bloss said.
"We just had a few mistakes that usually if we had the momentum it not a big deal, but we let them take our feet out from under us and just really bring us down. We just had a hard time coming back."
JCA (1-1) opened a 34-0 halftime lead by outgaining the Falcons 214-79 yards and receiving plenty of help. Three of the five scoring scores were aided by the Falcons losing a muffed punt and having a low punt snap that gave JCA the ball at the 6. Bill Rotnicki also returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown for the final score of the half.
"We're just not playing very well," Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. "They're obviously a good team and I don't know if we play our best football if we're ready for that game because they're a high-quality opponent. But we didn't even give ourselves a chance. We didn't execute. We turned the ball over four or five times and put our defense in a hole and we're not getting stops."
The Hilltoppers recovered the muffed punt at the Falcons' 42 but the defense held and Brian Bravo kicked a 42-yard field goal. The Hilltoppers later faced first-and-23 but quarterback Cade Earl had his first two completions of 18 and then 37 yards to Michael Johnson for a touchdown.
The low punt snap set up Nick Borger's 3-yard TD run with 4.8 seconds left in the first quarter. Johnson added a 67-yard TD run in the second quarter for a 27-0 lead.
Wheaton North sophomore quarterback Luke Anthony was 13 for 23 for 145 yards. Just before Rotnicki's pick-six, Anthony and Adam Terrini converted the Falcons' first first down of the game. Luke Phelan intercepted Anthony in the end zone just before halftime.
"The defense was phenomenal. That's a heck of an offensive team," JCA coach Dan Sharp said. "And our offense really improved a lot. We got a couple of big plays, which we didn't have last week. The defense and special teams gave us short fields."
Facing third-and-7 in the third quarter, Anthony found a wide-open Bloss down the right sideline for a 42-yard TD pass. Senior backup quarterback Alex Alkevicius connected with Bloss for a 22-yard TD play for the game's final score.
"The quarterbacks threw some nice balls and it's nice to see," Bloss said. "We have a lot of guys on offense that can make plays, quarterbacks that can make throws so I think the big thing is just consistency for us."
"If we're playing our best football and it's not good enough, then so be it, but I don't think we're playing our best football right now," Wardynski said.