St. Edward savors win in Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. - St. Edward opened the season at the KSA Kickoff Classic held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World and the Green Wave experienced all that means this time of year.
The game started with some rain and then it turned hot and humid and both teams struggled early on offense. At halftime, the Green Wave, who just dressed just 23 regular varsity players, decided they needed to turn to what they call their beef package to start the second half. As the name implies, St. Edward handed the ball to sophomore running back Angel Garcia 8 times in a row and Garcia pounded into the line every time and 67 yards later, Garcia capped off the drive with a 1-yard TD run that gave the Green Wave a lead they would build on as they pulled away to 30-20 victory over Christ's Church Academy of Jacksonville, FL.
"We could see them kind of getting tired at the end of the first half and our guys were ready to play," said St. Edward head coach Mike Rolando. "They wanted to come in here with an up-tempo offense and try to run us off the field and we challenged our boys with that and they never wanted to come off the field. So we said at halftime that we're going to run the tempo and we're going to run the ball and win this first series and we have this beef package and we just took it right down the field and punched it in the end zone and it was awesome.
"Angel Garcia, as a running back, he had a fantastic game for a sophomore. He was breaking tackles, running north and south, I'm really proud of his contribution tonight and, of course, he doesn't do that without some good blocks from his offensive line."
The Green Wave defense, which pitched a shutout until the last minute of the game, added a safety in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 23-14 and Saveon Smith took the ensuing free kick back to the CCA 16-yard line putting St. Edward (1-0) in great shape to extend its lead but it took a trick play on a fake field goal when quarterback Dylan Mlinarich hit Tyler Holte at the 2-yard line to get the first down and Garcia punched it in from there to make it 30-14 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
The Green Wave's first half scores both came on big pass plays from Mlinarich. He hit James Harkins on three straight pass plays in the second quarter, the third one was a 34-yard TD pass that tied the score at 7.
St. Edward took the lead in the second quarter on a magnificent play by Smith, who out jumped one Eagle defender, wrestled the ball away from another defender, broke a tackle and out ran everyone else for a 62 yard TD.