Benet wallops Marian Catholic
Benet's playoff spot has been safely secured after its 66-7 football thrashing of Marian Catholic at Benedictine University on Friday.
The Redwings (6-3, 4-3) put up 45 first-half points against its East Suburban Catholic Conference foe, doing whatever they wanted offensively, tallying 5 rushing touchdowns on the night.
"I told these guys it's hard to make the playoffs," Benet coach Pat New said. "You look around, I mean there are some very, very good football programs not making the playoffs and it's a tough task, so these guys should be proud of themselves. They face a lot of adversity this year."
The Redwings were led on the ground by senior Brad Sznajder, who had 207 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half.
"We know our advantage," Sznajder said. "We really like to run the ball and basically take over the game. We have a great offensive line, so when we can take advantage of it that's what we can do.
Sophomore quarterback Jack Sznajder added a rushing touchdown and 2 passing touchdowns, which will give the young quarterback some confidence after the Benet offense was blanked at Joliet Catholic last week.
"I was really proud of the way Jack Sznajder played," New said. "I thought he really had great reads tonight, great poise and ran the ball well and threw the ball well."
The Spartans (1-8, 0-7) grabbed a touchdown back in the second quarter thanks to a nice 61-yard pass from Cameron Thomas to Tyrice Richie.
Picking up where Brad Sznajder left off were runningbacks Ricky Schueller and Marty Dosen. Schueller grabbed 2 touchdowns in the second half while Dosen - who was called up from the sophomore team - had a 38-yard run of his own.
The Redwings were also playing for senior Andrew Valadka, who is recovering from spinal surgery after fracturing his spine against Carmel two weeks ago.
"Play for Val" T-shirts were worn to honor the senior, and New said his team is slowly starting to refocus.
"I thought last week was a lot better focus I thought," New said. "I think are guys are gradually getting over it, as you can see. But it's good to see. We still love this guy and miss this guy and its gotta be tough."