St. Rita ends St. Francis’ undefeated start

WHEATON – Seven days after handing two-time Class 8A defending champion Loyola Academy a rare homefield defeat, St. Francis ' football team ran into an immovable force of its own Friday night in Wheaton.

St. Rita (3-1, 1-0) jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead and never looked back during its 31-13 victory over the previously unbeaten Spartans (3-1, 0-1) at Kuhn Memorial Stadium.

The game began on a positive note for the Spartans, as Tanner Glock shot through the line and blocked a punt inside the Mustangs' 35-yard line.

However, the Spartans came away empty following a first-down holding penalty and fourth-down incompletion.

From there St. Rita drove 65 yards in 11 plays, capped by tailback Nick Herman's 1-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.

After stopping the Spartans near the red zone on the ensuing possession, the Mustangs put together another long drive — a 16-play, 75-yard march highlighted by Justin Buckner's 8-yard touchdown run off a direct snap to make it 14-0 with 3:04 left in the opening half.

St. Rita kept the drive alive with a perfectly executed fake punt, as Matt Grzyb ran for 15 yards on a fourth-and-2 play from the Spartans' 44-yard line.

"We told our guys all week long that they were going to steal a possession, and our guys went lackadaisical," said Spartans coach Bob McMillen.

Grzyb's 39-yard field goal stretched the Mustangs' lead to 17-0 at halftime.

Despite losing senior tailback TyVonn Ransom to an injury on their first possession of the third quarter, the Spartans got on the board when quarterback Brady Palmer connected with Glock for a 98-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 17-7.

St. Rita answered on its next possession, as Buckner raced into the end zone from 26 yards out to extend the lead to 24-7 after 3 quarters.

Buckner, an important part of the Mustangs' defense at strong safety/outside linebacker, entered the game with just one offensive carry this season.

"Being a defensive coach, I don't want Justin to get hurt," said Mustangs coach Martin Hopkins. "After what he did tonight, we may need to call that a little more."

Herman sealed the outcome with his 8-yard touchdown run in the final minute.

"We wanted to control the clock, and you only do that by running the football," said Hopkins, whose team finished with 200 yards on the ground.

The Spartans' other touchdown came on a 22-yard pass from Palmer to Zach Washington with 6:14 remaining.

"We flat out got outplayed," McMillen said. "We got beat by a better football team. They played us like we played Loyola last week. These guys just thought they could show up and play football, and these kids came to punch them in the mouth every way they could."

"We didn't come out as hard as we did against Loyola," said Washington. "They (Mustangs) beat us in all three aspects of the game tonight."