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Prairie Ridge ends Montini's title-game run

The herculean task of stopping Montini came down to Samson.

Prairie Ridge quarterback Samson Evans ran the football 21 times for 246 yards and 7 touchdowns in Saturday's 51-24 win over Montini in a Class 6A second-round playoff game in Lombard.

Evans' triple-option keepers for touchdown runs of 13, 22, 4, 4, 58, 1 and 44 yards, believed to be a program record, snapped Montini's 31-game home winning streak but more importantly ended the Broncos' run at an eighth straight championship game appearance. Only Montini and closed Driscoll Catholic have played in seven straight.

"I'm sure those guys are going to go on and run the table and they deserve it because they played a heck of a game," said Montini two-way lineman and co-captain Joe Spivak, in at times as a blocking fullback.

"So there's frustration there," he said, "but you know what, I think we left it all out there. I'm proud of my guys, I'm proud of Prairie Ridge, they're a heck of a team."

In the 2015 semifinals Prairie Ridge (11-0) lost at Montini, an Evans fumble a key point then and a motivator now.

"We left that game, we knew that we should have won that, but we didn't execute well," said Evans, who will advance to play Lake Forest College. "And after that season we marked this game on our calendar and we were ready. And once we started and we knew we were playing them, we were motivated the whole week to get this game done, and do what we do."

Montini (7-4) zipped downfield on its first possession, Matt Morrissey hitting Prince Walker on consecutive 29- and 33-yard passes. A penalty voided a touchdown pass, yet Michael Cooney's 33-yard field goal was the first score Prairie Ridge had allowed after 14 shutout quarters.

The Wolves responded with 28 straight points, Austin Ferbet's interception aiding Evans' first 2 touchdown runs within a 45-second span.

Montini capped a solid 9-play, 80-yard drive with a Morrissey flare pass to wide-open Alex Luka, but the Wolves scored on their fifth and sixth straight possessions for a 42-10 halftime lead.

"They were kind of good at clogging up the middle, and I really think that played a good part in their defense shutting us down somewhat," said Walker, limited by a lingering quadriceps injury.

In a sad twist for the home club, out of halftime Broncos safety Rian O'Connor forced a Prairie Ridge fumble at the Broncos' 1-yard line, but the Broncos were ruled to have recovered and then taken the ball into the end zone for a safety, not a touchback. Shortly after the resulting Adam Krause punt, Evans ended his day on a 44-yard touchdown run for a 51-10 lead at 8:06 of the third quarter.

Montini tacked on Jake Karczewski's 13-yard touchdown run and Christian Pirog's 40-yard touchdown reception from Morrissey, who finished 13-of-21 passing for 268 yards.

"Special time in my life," Broncos coach Chris Andriano said of the title-game run. "Special teams, great memories, a lot of great young men. Great coaching staffs. Get to watch old film and boast about things from years past. Very, very lucky to have that kind of success and run, and it's due to coaches and players."

Images: Montini vs. Prairie Ridge playoff football

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