St. Edward falls to Chicago Hope
St. Edward racked up 24 first downs against Chicago Hope, but the Green Wave couldn't get one when they most needed it Friday night.
Down 3, the Wave took over at their 20 with 2 and a half minutes left. They got one first down on a screen pass to Angel Garcia, but that was followed by 3 straight incompletions. Dylan Mlinarich's fourth-down completion to Jordan West was stopped 3 yards short.
The visiting Eagles took over and ran out the clock, holding on for a 36-33 victory in nonconference action at Greg True Field.
It was a back-and-forth game until the Eagles went up by 10 with 11:27 left. After an exchange of punts, St. Edward drove 74 yards in 7 plays. Mlinarich's 10-yard pass to West capped the drive and got the Wave within 3.
After a slow start, Mlinarich got hot in the second half. He completed his first 6 passes after the break and finished 12 of 20 for 158 yards and the touchdown.
Garcia led a steady ground attack that allowed the Wave to control the clock for much of the first half. He finished with exactly 100 yards on 23 carries. Dave Madden added 71 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. West and Nick Wright each had a rushing touchdown for St. Edward (1-1).
Chicago Hope countered with an air attack led by Trevor Land. The sophomore quarterback threw for 213 yards and 4 scores, 2 to Najee Harris. Land added 94 yards on the ground.
Harris finished with 6 catches for 115 yards. Land's tosses of 32 and 40 yards to Harris gave Hope a 14-12 lead early. An 18-yarder to Lafabian Fain made it 21-12, but the Wave answered with a 70-yard drive capped by the first of Madden's two 3-yard scoring runs. Garcia ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 21-20 at the break.
But conversions were a problem for the Wave. Each team scored 5 touchdowns, but the Eagles converted a total of 6 extra points. Kicker William Zanas connected 4 times and the Eagles added a 2-pointer. St. Edward had a total of 3 extra points on its 5 scores, which was the difference in the score.
Chicago Hope overcame a mind-boggling 20 penalties for 165 yards.