St. Francis claims shutout

St. Francis won the battle of the Spartans, defeating Hales Franciscan 29-0 in a Chicago Catholic League crossover football game on Saturday night in Chicago.

William Purdom ran for 154 yards on 26 carries and 2 touchdowns for St. Francis.

Purdom stepped in for Steven Fassnacht, who sustained a season-ending injury.

"I was thinking just hit the holes hard and rely on the offensive line to do well," Purdom said. "They did great tonight pushing their blocks, and we just made the best of the plays. (Hales Franciscan has) a lot of speed. We knew their line and where their weaknesses were and took advantage of it."

St. Francis (3-2) opened the scoring in the second quarter with an 8-yard run by Purdom. Trevor Jungles added two of his three field goals and Christopher Smith grabbed a 24-yard pass from Clint Bobowski. Bobowski was 18-of-34 passing for 154 yards.

St. Francis took a 19-0 lead into halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Hales Franciscan (3-2) started to get on track. With the ball in deep on the St. Francis 7-yard line, the St. Francis defense sacked quarterback Dominic Christian for a 14-yard loss and eventually took over on downs to end the drive.

The defense was led by Quinn Calcagno, who had a pair of sacks, and it frustrated the Hales Franciscan offense and its top players, Christian and Illinois-bound running back Patrick Nelson.

"Over the week we practiced consistently the option play they had and (our) pass rush," Calcagno said.

At the end of the third quarter, Nelson blocked a punt to give Hales Franciscan the ball on the St. Francis 30-yard line. On the next play Christian was sacked for a 2-yard loss and had to leave the game with an injury.

"Our defense played unbelievable," said St. Francis coach Mike Fitzgerald. "Quinn Calcagno and that defensive line got after the quarterback, who's a talented quarterback who can make some plays. You have to contain him. Our defense was after him all night. The pursuit was relentless."

Purdom ran 1 yard for his second touchdown in the third quarter, and Jungles closed the scoring with a 23-yard field goal in the fourth.

"It was very disappointing," said Hales Franciscan coach Randall Townsel. "Football is like life, you get out what you put in. We were not disciplined. You've got to give credit to the defense. We didn't score. We got some big plays, but we didn't get into the end zone. They did a good job of keeping us out."