St. Francis lands victory at Wheaton Academy
Entering Friday's football game at Wheaton Academy the outcome seemed up in the air against St. Francis.
Up in the air it was, St. Francis quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse's pass from the 19-yard line, that is. The sophomore slinger bought time against pressure and lofted the ball into a crowded end zone.
Jake Tangorra used all of his 72 inches to meet the ball at its apex for a touchdown with 54 seconds left in the third quarter. That and Aubrey Quaranto's kick was cushion enough to withstand Warriors receiver Justin Hocker's score before the quarter ended.
Improving to 4-0 against Wheaton Academy and winning its Metro Suburban Blue debut, St. Francis beat the Warriors 20-9 at Performance Trust Field in West Chicago.
"I trust my receivers," said Rittenhouse, who completed 15 of 37 passes for 156 yards and ran for 60 yards with a 3-yard touchdown.
"If I'm scrambling, trying to make a play, I mean, I'll just throw it up there," he said. "I saw him, thought I could get it to him and I did. He went up, made a play."
St. Francis (4-0, 1-0) never trailed, going up 20-2 on Tangorra's touchdown catch. Hocker answered that on a 44-yard score from a Ben Thorson pass as time expired in the third quarter. Thorson was 22 of 39 for 243 yards passing for Wheaton Academy (2-2, 0-2), lacking top running back Cristian Carstens due to injury.
"We were excited," said Hocker, a senior who caught 7 passes for 87 yards. "We'd never beat them before and we thought it'd be a great challenge. We were motivated, and we thought we were fully capable of winning, but that wasn't the case."
Able to move the chains and control clock through the air, St. Francis capped its opening drive of 11 plays with Henry Plamondon's 23-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead at 8:04 of the first quarter.
"It was a great team win tonight, the boys played extremely well," said Spartans coach Bob McMillen. "I thought our defense did a phenomenal job flying around except for one big play."
Late in the second quarter Wheaton Academy marched 65 yards but fumbled on St. Francis' 4-yard line, only to record a Warriors safety when Derek Johanik and Jay Callentine tackled a Spartan in his own end zone.
As it did to start the game, starting the third quarter St. Francis mixed Rittenhouse's arm with Plamondon's legs to motor downfield. The Spartans capped a 13-play drive when Rittenhouse faked the dive handoff and booted right for 3 yards. St. Francis led 13-2 at 7:49 of the third quarter, then Clay Gorski stopped a good Wheaton Academy series with an interception that led to the Tangorra touchdown.
"What I told our guys at the end was we lose the turnover battle 3-0, we lose the field position battle on special teams, we can't get off the field on third and some fourth-down situations. And then we have some penalties in critical moments. All of that is a formula for a losing football game," said Warriors coach Brad Thornton.