Tough loss for St. Edward
Riverside-Brookfield rallied for 2 fourth-quarter touchdowns to edge St. Edward 21-14 Friday night at Greg True Field in Elgin.
The Metro Suburban Blue Conference loss makes next Friday's season finale against Wheaton Academy a must win for the 4-4 Green Wave to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Leading 14-7 midway through the fourth quarter, a St. Edward 31-yard field goal attempt went wide to the left.
After the failed 3-point attempt, R-B took possession of the ball on its own 20-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Nicolas Del Nodal went up the middle for an 80-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 14 all with 6:23 to play. The senior running back finished the night rushing 21 times for 199 yards.
The Bulldogs, on their next possession, drove 60 yards on 6 plays to score the go-ahead TD with 49.6 seconds left to play. R-B quarterback Hunter Hughes threw a 26-yard pass to Zachary Vaia, who was in the back of the end zone, for the winning tally.
"I thought we were in control most of the game. We've got 19 of the toughest kids that play a football game. They never come off the field. These guys play three ways -offense, defense and special teams," said St. Edward coach Mike Rolando. "They played their hearts out but they ran out of gas at the 45th minute. I'm proud of them, they took a 6A school to the wire."
St. Edward (1-3 MSB) wasted no time in the first quarter to take a lead. On the Wave's first play from scrimmage, quarterback Dylan Mlinarich connected with Tyler Holte for a 58-yard touchdown pass. St. Edward widened its lead to 14-0 with 39.5 seconds left in the first quarter on Dave Madden's 1-yard plunge.
R-B (7-1, 3-1) narrowed the Wave's lead to 14-7 with 2 minutes left in the first half on a 3-yard Del Nodal run.
St. Edward's defense made several stops during the game. In addition to sacking Hughes 4 times, Wave defenders picked off two of the senior quarterback's passes and forced a fumble.
With the Bulldogs limiting their ground game, the Wave went to the air to move the ball. St. Edward only gained 68 yards rushing. Mlinarich completed 12 of 27 pass attempts for a total of 233 yards. Ryan Pomeroy caught 5 of the passes for a total of 127 yard.
"We ran the ball pretty well in the first half but they made adjustments and stopped us in the second half," Mlinarich said. "It was a tough game."
St. Edward needs 5 wins to remain playoff eligible, making next Friday's showdown with Wheaton Academy a crucial game for the team's postseason plans.
"We have another playoff game next week. If we play with this type of effort and we clean up a few things, we can beat anybody," Rolando said.