Hellgeth, St. Viator hold off Meadows
St. Viator senior quarterback Bryce Hellgeth did a little bit of everything in the Lions' 23-19 nonconference win at Rolling Meadows on Friday night.
Hellgeth threw 2 touchdown passes, kicked a field goal and in a crucial fourth-quarter drive called his own number twice to get key first downs.
"I'll do what ever it takes to help my team win a game," Hellgeth said. "It comes down to, 'What is the situation?' Field position was key for us tonight. It was good to make some big plays when we had to."
Hellgeth's first-down runs of 12 and 8 yards kept the Lions from giving up the ball to the Mustangs.
St. Viator took possession with 3:25 left in the game at its own 34-yard line.
Jack Scislowski (16 carries, 94 yards, 2 TD) picked up back-to-back first downs to start the drive with runs of 10 and 11 yards.
Much of the Lions' success came from the offensive line of Rocky Smeriglio, Joe Steineke, Joe Cleary, Anthony Maraviglia and freshman center Jeremiah Pittman.
St. Viator rushed for 177 yards in 38 attempts while Hellgeth connected on 11 of 27 passes with 1 interception for 150 yards.
"We expect a lot of ourselves," Maraviglia said. "We understand what our team can do. We know we have to be physical. Pittman did a great job for us at center. We have really worked hard with him. Those 6:30 a.m. practices have paid off. We lost to Rolling Meadows three times. We wanted to win tonight. It's a nice neighborhood rivalry."
St. Viator struck first with a 10-yard run from Scislowski who finished off a 29-yard drive with 3:07 left in the first quarter.
The Mustangs fought back with back-to-back touchdowns to lead 12-7 with 3:49 left in the second quarter.
Quarterback Arek Kleniuk capped a 57-yard drive with a 10-yard run to make it 7-6.
Gregory Bouraoui recovered a fumble at the St. Viator 35-yard line on the first play following the kickoff.
Kleniuk (13-of-28, 170 yards) connected with the first of 2 touchdown passes to Luke Nordman with 3:49 left in the first half. The Mustangs then led 12-7 - but not for long.
On a third-down play at the St. Viator 36, Hellgeth hit Matt Doersching (5 catches 79 yards, 1 touchdown) with a 24-yard completion to the Rolling Meadows 20.
Scislowski scampered in with 1:35 left for a 13-12 lead.
The Lions took possession of the ball at the Mustangs' 37-yard line with 58 seconds left.
Hellguth, who had missed a field goal earlier connected from 28 yards with 16 seconds left for a 16-12 lead.
St. Viator upped the lead to 23-12 when Hellgeth hit Doersching on a 20-yard scoring pass with 8 seconds left in the third quarter. Hellgeth kicked the extra point.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Kleniuk found Nordman open in the right corner of the end zone on a 45-yard pass. Yamil Roman's extra-point kick made it 23-19.
"We had our chances," said Rolling Meadows coach Matt Mishler. "Our veterans played well, and some of our young players played well also. Now we need the veterans to step up to help the younger players. St. Viator played very well."
"This was a big game for us," said St. Viator coach Dave Archibald. "It's our second year together as coach and team. I think the players were more comfortable. We beat a good team and a good program. We have a lot to be excited about with this team."