St. Edward cruises to easy victory
Green Wave scores 36 points in first quarter
ELGIN - By the end of the night, the sight was familiar – a white-clad St. Edward running back dashing down the field, with would-be tacklers blocked off by teammates and the end zone waiting at the end.
The Green Wave rushed for six touchdowns on Friday night – with five of the scores over 13 yards – and walloped visiting Rockford Lutheran 57-7.
St. Edward (2-0) ran for 326 yards on the night, with 285 of those coming in the first half that ended with the Wave up 43-7.
David Hoebbel led the way with 137 yards on the ground on 12 carries, including a huge 122-yard, three-touchdown first quarter. The first quarter ended with St. Edward ahead 36-7.
The "thunder" to Hoebbel's "lightning" was Jordan Torres, who rushed for 108 yards on only four carries and rambled for two touchdowns that were both longer than 25 yards.
The scoring outburst by St. Edward was the most it's tallied in at least the last 29 years.
"It's been a long time since anybody scored 57 points here," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "(I'm) just proud of these kids. (In the) first quarter we were really effective. The running and the blocking in the first quarter (was) executed well.
"Last year we started out 2-0 and we ended up 4-5. That would be unacceptable this year. The next step for this program is to make the playoffs."
The Wave's defense also enjoyed a huge night, shutting down the Crusaders' attack to the tune of 113 total yards and no offensive touchdowns.
The defense came away with four turnovers, including a 31-yard Nathan Gaige interception return for a TD that put St. Edward up 36-7 late in the first quarter. Jon Godfrey and Shane Finnane also grabbed picks and Jim Cholewa snared a fumble recovery.
"It was a lot of fun," Cholewa said. "Lots of great plays by everyone and I'm just happy to be a part of that defense. It was ferocious tonight."
Added Rolando: "They stepped up. They wanted to preserve the defensive shutout and not let them back in the end zone."
St. Edward got the scoring under way on the fifth play from scrimmage, when Hoebbel trotted in from 7 yards out to make it 7-0 with 10:15 left in the first. Just under two minutes later Rockford Lutheran (0-2) knotted things up when quarterback Ben Lehman (8-for-22, 108 passing yards, 1 TD, 3 INT) was intercepted by Lutheran's Jonata Pike, who returned it for a score with 8:41 left.
Hoebbel hit paydirt on a 16-yard run with 5:34 left to put the Wave back up seven and Torres' 29-yard touchdown gallop with 3:31 left followed by a Hoebbel two-point conversion put the Wave up 22-7.
"It's awesome," Hoebbel said of his blocking. "They work hard all week and it shows in the game. Our line's amazing this year."
Hoebbel's third score of the night came on a 13-yard run with 1:32 left in the first and just four plays after Cholewa's fumble recovery in Lutheran territory. Sixteen seconds later Gaige made his way into the end zone with the interception return to make it 36-7.
A 35-yard touchdown toss from Lehman to Sam Pozezinski (2 catches, 58 yards) was the lone score of the second quarter as the Wave relied on its still-growing passing game the rest of the half.
"What we really wanted to do was get him some work and allow him to make some mistakes in a game like this so that when we need him to come through and win a game for us," Rolando said of Lehman. "He's going to be a great quarterback. I love the way he leads the team. We had to get him a lot of reps tonight."
The final two scores came on long TD runs by Torres (43 yards) and Godfrey (85 yards) to ensure a running clock for the game's final 17:37.
St. Edward outgained Lutheran 434-113.
The lone blemish for the Wave was its six penalties that amounted to 78 yards. Lutheran compiled 10 penalties for 120 yards.
Awaiting the Wave next week will be defending Class 2A champion and Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division rival Immaculate Conception.
"We just can't look past IC," Hoebbel said. "They're really good. It's going to be a tough game and we have to work hard this week."
Added Rolando: "We're going to find out what (we're) made of real quick."
St. Edward 57, Rockford Lutheran 7
Rockford L. 7 0 0 0 — 7
St. Edward 36 7 7 7 — 57
ST. ED — Hoebbel 7 run (Cholewa kick), 10:15
RLUTH — Pike 32 interception return (Bonzi kick), 8:41
ST. ED — Hoebbel 16 run (Cholewa kick), 5:34
ST. ED — Torres 29 run (Hoebbel run), 3:31
ST. ED — Hoebbel 13 run (Cholewa kick), 1:32
ST. ED — Gaige interception return (Cholewa kick), 1:16
ST. ED — Pozezinski 35 pass from Lehman (Cholewa kick), 9:03
ST. ED — Torres 43 run (Cholewa kick), 7:37
ST. ED — Godfrey 85 run (Cholewa kick), 2:3
Team statistics RL STED
First downs 9 10
Comp.-att-int. 4-23-3 8-22-3
Passing yards 39 108
Rushing-att-yds. 28-74 22-326
Total yards 113 434
Fumbles-lost 4-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 10-120 6-78
Individual statistics
Rushing:
RLUTH — Pike 17-55, Kopleman 8-13, Wieting 1-6, Neese 0-0.
STED — Hoebbel 12-137, Torres 4-108, Godfrey 3-86, Lehman 1-(minus)8, Keokanlaya 1-3.
Passing:
RLUTH — Kopleman 4-23-3 39.
STED — Lehman 8-22-3 108.
Receiving:
RLUTH — Wieting 2-9, Pike 1-15, Albrecht 1-15.
STED – Pozezinski 2-58, Von Ahnen 2-23, Hoebbel 3-22, Torres 1-5.
