ICCP shines under new lights
Playing its first home game under new lights at Plunkett Athletic Complex, IC Catholic Prep made it a football game to remember.
The Knights rolled past Aurora Central Catholic 41-7 on homecoming in Elmhurst.
ICCP has defeated ACC in 17 straight contests.
"We have a special group right now," said Knights coach Bill Krefft. "We have a group of kids, and every single one of them came to play, every one of them did their job. … I told them that going into this week that it was going to be a team kind of atmosphere, and they responded."
The Knights defense kept the Chargers' run-heavy offense in check in the first half, allowing ACC's Ryan Cerza 26 yards on the ground on 15 carries. ICCP's defense did not allow the Chargers' rushing attack to get past the second level, and if they did, the linebackers and defensive secondary made sure the Chargers earned each yard with multiple hard hits and pursuing the ball as a team.
In the second half ICCP showed its depth on offense, especially running the ball.
"When you look at the guys that played in the second half, they played in the first half too but just get mixed in more covertly," Krefft said. "Leo Guzman and Brendan O'Brien, those two running backs are two as good of running backs as you're going to get, and having Jordan Rowell in the backfield … we're blessed to have four great high school running backs."
Chargers coach John Belskis remained hopeful.
"This is our fifth game of the season and we've never had our offensive line together," Belskis said. "We've had guys hurt. Next week we get our offensive line back together, and that's where this game was won and lost. Our skill kids played hard. Cerza ran hard, Griffin plays hard, Johnny (Belskis) puts the ball on the money most of the time, but we just got to get better in the trenches."
Belskis looked across the field at ICCP and said his team can achieve what the Knights have.
"There's a standard and expectation level on the other side of the field that we don't have yet, and that's what we're striving to get," Belskis said. "We're going to go back to work on Monday and try to raise that expectation level."