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Montini turns St. Rita over

Montini's penchant for take-aways in this young football season bit another state power.

Scoring three times off turnovers, twice directly, Montini beat St. Rita 38-7 in Friday's Chicago Catholic League crossover at Duffy Memorial Stadium in Lombard.

"We've won the turnover battle so far in every game," said Broncos coach Chris Andriano. "And when you have that kind of field position that we had and you can grind it out a little bit, plays - they just seem to happen in your favor."

On St. Rita's third play from scrimmage, backed up at its own 16-yard line after Michael Cooney's 48-yard punt, Mustangs back Brandon Williams got popped at the 10 and the ball came loose.

Jake Kapp, in his first series for Montini since transferring from Glenbard South, picked it up and sprinted 10 yards to score at 8:52 of the first quarter.

"I just saw the ball right there and I just scooped and scored as they always teach us," said Kapp, a returning all-state linebacker.

"I'm like, wow, this is a great way to start off my season. Everyone said, welcome to Montini. I'm just like, this is awesome."

Montini's defense bent but didn't break, then the Broncos (3-0) drove 71 yards to post a 14-0 first-quarter lead on a 6-yard Justin Blake touchdown pass to wide-open Dylan Maher.

Montini went up 21-0 - the margin St. Rita (1-2) won by last season - with 4:14 left in the first half after Broncos linebacker Luke Sheppard pounced on a fumbled St. Rita exchange. Prince Walker, following linebacker John Embrey plugged in at fullback, scored from 3 yards out.

"Obviously the forced us into some mistakes, but they capitalized," said St. Rita coach Todd Kuska. "That's what good football teams do. When they smell blood in the water they go and get it."

"We just knew we were underdogs and we just knew we had to come out and go hard. We knew we had to come back and just demolish them, and that's what we did," said Walker, who ran 14 times for 64 yards.

Showing urgency, St. Rita used Kurt Zeiger's 65-yard kickoff return to get deep into Montini territory. The Broncos defense held St. Rita just inches from the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 4.

St. Rita got on the board when it also capitalized, on a fumbled Montini punt snap Justin O'Connell recovered at the Broncos' 9-yard line. Quarterback Connor Kelly scored on a 1-yard keep to trim the deficit to 21-7 at 10:02 of the fourth quarter.

Undaunted, Montini gained three first downs before Cooney kicked a 23-yard field goal.

The Broncos put the game away on Taylor Reed's 78-yard interception for a touchdown and Will Smith's 60-yard touchdown run. Smith gained 104 yards on 6 carries.

"Getting contributions from all different phases of the game," said Andriano, his squad a plus-9 in turnover ratio after three games. "This team keeps getting better in all areas. I like it."

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