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St. Edward 9-0 for first time in program history

The St. Edward football family - players, coaches, parents, administrators and alumni - lingered so long on Elmwood Park's field celebrating the completion of the first 9-0 regular season in the program's 71-year history that the host school finally turned out the lights.

Earlier, the Green Wave turned out the lights on Elmwood Park with a 54-14 win.

"Our coaches asked us at the beginning of the year on our seven-on-seven trip down to Washington (Ill.), what do you want to do this year, what do you want to accomplish?" said senior Jake French, who notched 2 sacks. "We all said 9-0. They said if you guys work for it, you can do it. And we did it."

With the victory St. Edward (9-0, 5-0) wins the Metro Suburban Conference's East Division outright in its first year in the league.

"It's the greatest feeling on earth," said senior quarterback Joe Mullen, who completed 6 of 10 passes for 129 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Elmwood Park (2-7, 1-4) caught the Green Wave off guard on the first play of the game with a trick play. Quarterback Jason Polito-Carlson threw a lateral pass to Dominic Cadetto. With several Green Wave defenders closing in, Cadetto threw a double pass to wide open receiver Julian Moscatello for a 69-yard completion to the St. Edward 1-yard line. Brandon Romero scored on a 1-yard run 2 plays later to give the Tigers a very short-lived 7-0 lead.

St. Edward lost a fumble on its first possession, but the defense held and the Green Wave responded with 54 unanswered points. St. Edward led 47-7 at halftime.

"It was just a minor setback for 30 seconds and then we came out and played football the way we're supposed to," coach Mike Rolando said.

Mullen directed the attack by throwing touchdown passes to Trevor Loewen (22 yards), Dwayne Allen, Jr. (27 yards), Santos Gomez (48 yards) and Nick Duffy (16 yards).

Allen, who carried the ball 9 times for 77 yards, staked St. Edward to a 15-7 lead with a 13-yard run followed by his 2-point conversion run.

Senior running back Santos Gomez provided the highlight of the night with a zigzagging 39-yard touchdown romp that featured two cutbacks. His big run was part of an attack that outgained the Tigers 316 total yards to 117.

"Luckily, my offense kept blocking," Gomez said. "I couldn't have done it without them."

Finishing a regular season 9-0 is a far cry from Rolando's first two seasons as St. Edward's coach in 2005 and 2006, when his teams did not win a game.

"They've truly embraced the team concept, which has allowed them in my mind to overachieve with undersized guys at a lot of positions," Rolando said. "It's a special time for them. I'm just proud of them."

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