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Fenton sails to victory

After Walther Christian took a 7-0 lead Fenton coach Mark Kos said his team "righted the ship." Ship's captain was Eric Lonergan.

The 215-pound senior ran for 3 touchdowns and returned the second-half kickoff 82 yards for another in the Bison's 41-7 win against the Metro Suburban Conference crossover foe Saturday in Melrose Park.

"Came out a little flat, that's been a problem for us the last couple seasons," Kos said. "We've got to remedy that as coaches, but with our senior leadership on offense and defense we were able to right the ship in time and we played a good second quarter and third quarter. I'm happy to see the results."

Lonergan was done by the fourth after a 1-yard run and 34-7 lead with 1:56 left in the third quarter. He finished with 12 carries, 129 yards and a stoic, can-do attitude.

"I just like to run behind my pads," he said.

"He plays with everything. He puts his heart and his soul into this game," said senior tackle Adrian Bahena, who made 7 tackles, 4 for loss.

Fenton safety Dominic Prunotto also helped Fenton (1-1) pull its ship out of dry dock.

Ending a scoreless first quarter, Walther (0-2) recovered a fumble off a muffed punt. Broncos quarterback Anthony Reedy found the teammate who recovered it, Kevin Smith, on a 48-yard touchdown pass.

Prunotto picked off Walther's next pass. Two plays later Lonergan veered left, shouldered aside defenders while skirting the sideline and scored on a 47-yard run.

"Out of all my years of playing football since I was in like, fourth grade, that was my first pick. It just felt great," Prunotto said. "And then it got my adrenaline pumping even more when Lonergan ran for that touchdown."

Floodgates opened, Bison quarterback Corey Hausen hit J.T. Mason from 13 yards out and Fenton got the ball right back on Oliver Aquirre's caused fumble recovered by Abel Rivera. Tony Cantarelli's 20-yard reception led to Lonergan's 2-yard touchdown run between linemen Angelo Duvall and Josh Jakalski for a 20-7 halftime lead.

Lonergan fairly sealed the deal when he busted Walther's second-half kickoff up the gut, escaped a midfield crowd and outran pursuit.

"Our front wedge was good, our second wedge was good and I saw an opening on the side and I just bounced it out," he said.

Dylan Butts ended the scoring on his first carry, a 23-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown. Prunotto intercepted his second pass shortly thereafter, and a third was negated by penalty.

"When they scored," Bahena said, "we didn't put our heads down. We took that and we just played through it."

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