History for St. Edward - 6-0 for first time
In the 71 years that St. Edward has played football, there have been more days the Green Wave tried to forget than there have been days to remember.
Saturday will most certainly go down as one to remember.
The fact the Green Wave rolled to a 61-0 Metro Suburban East win over Walther Christian in Melrose Park was almost secondary to the real accomplishments on a bitterly cold and rainy early October afternoon. Not only did St. Edward secure a playoff bid for the second-straight year and the fourth time in 10 seasons under coach Mike Rolando, but the Green Wave also became the first team in the history of the program to go 6-0.
"I guess its just a culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of good people," said Rolando, well after his team and the decent number of fans who braved the elements had finished their celebration.
"You think of all the people who put so much into this. It's a great community. It's a football community and that's what makes this program what it is. I'm really happy for the kids right now and I'm happy to hear from all the alumni. They're proud of the way the program's being rebuilt and where it's at right now."
Where the program is right now is poised to win a conference championship possibly for the first time, or at least since 1978 when the Wave went 8-1 in the old West Suburban Catholic. Wins the next two weeks over Ridgewood and Chicago Christian would send St. Edward (6-0, 2-0) to the Class 4A playoffs as a conference representative for the first time. Then, a win over Elmwood Park in Week 9, would cap off the best regular season in school history.
But, wait, says Rolando. Next week is all that matters right now.
"The kids all along have had pretty lofty goals," Rolando said. "They've had a goal of being 9-0 but we slow them down and take them week by week. They know Ridgewood is probably the biggest one they have left. Right now it's the biggest game in school history and the biggest game in their history. It's a homecoming game and we won't have any trouble getting up for this game. They know how huge this one is. You can't get to 8 and 9 if you don't get 7. They'll show up and they'll be excited."
Getting win No. 6 was about as easy as the final score would indicate, as the Green Wave scored the most points in any game records are available for, eclipsing the 60 they put up against Wheaton Academy last year.
St. Edward scored on all eight of its possessions in the first half, rolling up 54 of its points in the first 24 minutes, mercifully evoking the running clock rule in the second half. And after last week's slow start against Guerin, getting out of the gates quickly Saturday was the main focus all week.
"All week Coach Ro had us going through a bunch of drills because we started out flat against Guerin and we didn't want to do that today," said senior quarterback Joe Mullen, who got the second half off after going 8-for-10 for 167 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half.
"We came out focused and ready. The whole team was ready and we brought our A game today."
Senior Nick Duffy started the scoring when he caught a 29-yard TD pass from Mullen on the third play of the game. Then Mullen hooked up with sophomore Trevor Loewen (3 catches, 65 yards) for a 12-yard scoring pass. Junior Dwayne Allen (4 carries, 99 yards) scored the next 2 TDs, from 19 yards out and 22 yards. and the Green Wave had a 28-0 lead before the hot chocolate could get cold.
"Having a great back like Dwayne helps and we can also open up a lot of stuff in the package," Mullen said.
Senior Jon deWindt caught a 12-yard TD pass from Mullen, Allen ran in from 52 yards away, Loewen caught a 41-yarder for a score and junior Patrick Brown went in from 23 yards out. Senior Joe French made 6 of 8 PAT kicks and it was 54-0 at halftime.
Junior Aaron Jefferson's 5-yard TD run with 7:57 left in the third quarter made it 9 possessions and 9 touchdowns for the Wave, who only had to run 31 offensive plays the entire game. The running clock limited the second half to a total of 32 plays combined.
St. Edward ran for 153 yards on the day and had 313 total yards to 184 for the Broncos (0-6, 0-2). Walther sophomore Jaylen Pugh did have a big game with 147 yards rushing on 24 carries. The St. Edward defense, though, only let Walther into the red zone once - on the final possession of the game - and the Broncos only penetrated St. Edward territory three times all day.
And the postgame celebration gave everyone clad in green and gold a great sense of pride and accomplishment.
"To finally be the first team to go 6-0 is just so meaningful," said Mullen. "I just want to thank everybody - the fans, and the coaching staff for giving us this opportunity It's been a great time. It really has.
"Coach Ro and the coaching staff ... we treat every game like it's the Super Bowl so next week we want to carry it over and go 7-0."