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Sports

Marian Catholic Power Football Wears Down Benet

Spartans finally find some breathing room in the second half of a 27-7 victory over the Redwings on Friday night at Benedictine University.

It would be only a matter of time before they would break through. At least that’s what Marian Catholic football players were telling themselves Friday night in their 27-7 victory over Benet Academy at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The Spartans (2-0) outgained the Redwings 336-4 on the ground and 448-210 in total in a game where the time of possession was dominated by Marian. Benet had trouble getting anything going on the ground, so the Redwings went to the pass, which is a high-risk, high-reward option.

On a night with high humidity and temperatures in the 90s, it was not time to have three-and-outs. Unfortunately, Benet had plenty thanks to going just 9-of-25 passing and committing four turnovers (three interceptions and one fumble recovery). The Redwings gained just two first downs in the first half and one was by penalty.

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As Benet’s defense was getting weaker, Marian's Jeruel Taylor was getting stronger. The senior running back feasted off the weary Redwings (0-2) as he carried the ball 25 times for 197 yards and two touchdowns.

“Tonight was a dogfight, and I have a lot of faith in my offensive line. When we saw Benet get tired, we went after them,” Taylor said. “We knew that if we just kept the wheels turning good things would happen.”

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Marian got on the board first after Byron Munoz intercepted a screen pass and brought it to the Benet 10. The Spartans wasted little time as on the first play of the drive Robert Cifelli scampered into the end zone behind his right guard.

Benet answered in a hurry, though, as on the third play of its drive Kevin Weller hooked up with Bobby Hayes for a 85-yard touchdown catch. Hayes ran a go route and stepped over a defender who slipped to grab the ball. On the footrace down the sideline, the Spartan defensive back went to push Hayes out of bounds instead of tackling him and it backfired as he missed. That was all the daylight Hayes needed to get the score.

“We still have trouble sometimes bringing stuff that we should learn in practice to the game. We make the mistake of trying to push the guy out instead of tackling him in practice. We end up correcting it, but when game time comes along we make the same mistakes,” Marian coach Dave Mattio said. “But we are going to learn from it and move on to next week. I was really pleased how well we ran the ball and how we stuck with it even though we moved the ball and had trouble punching it in.”

With 8:56 remaining in the second quarter, Taylor picked up his first touchdown, a 23-yard cutback run, but the extra point was missed making it 13-7. Benet actually had a chance to take the lead with 7:21 remaining in the third quarter but the Redwings were stopped on a fourth-and-goal run from just inside the 1.

“The running game just wasn’t working for us, so we had to go to the pass and there we found some success,” Redwing coach Pat New said. “I told my defense that I was extremely proud of them and that they kept on fighting. On a night like this, they still kept a positive attitude and gave me maximum effort.”

Marian also got a touchdown catch from Randall Wells and a Bradley Engstrand added a safety.

 

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