Green Wave rolls to SCC Gold victory

RIVER GROVE -- St. Edward played like the Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division heavyweight it's recently become on Saturday, pummeling host Guerin Prep Academy 55-6.

The Green Wave's dominance was showcased by its flurry of big plays and quick strikes. Five of its touchdowns came on plays of 29 yards or more and six of its scores occurred within two plays of it gaining possession.

Thirteen Green Wave runners combined for 267 yards on the ground on 22 carries and quarterback Ben Lehman threw for 185 yards and three touchdowns on 10-for-18 passing.

"We wanted to try a few new things offensively (because) we can't be very predictable," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "We've got a lot of weapons, we can run the ball, we can throw the ball, we have different kids who can run the ball."

The Wave's defense limited the Gators to just 44 rushing yards and held its passing game in relative check to the tune of 159 yards in the air. St. Edward (5-1, 2-1) also won the turnover battle 3-0.

"We kind of figured we had the run plays pegged pretty well and we figured we could shut that down," Rolando said. "Our weakness all year has been the passing defense. It was good to see our defense play as well as they did. (Guerin) completed a few passes but most of them were underneath, nothing deep."

The Green Wave illustrated its might early, taking over on Guerin's side of the field after a Nathan Gaige blocked punt. Two plays later, David Hoebbel headed into the end zone with a 29-yard run.

St. Edward went up 14-0 with 7:37 to play in the first on a 57-yard run by Hoebbel. He ran the ball just twice on the day for 86 yards.

The lead was built to 21-0 on a 9-yard run by Lehman in the middle of the second before Guerin (2-4, 0-3) replied with a TD of its own.

With the shutout now gone, St. Edward dialed in on offense in the closing minutes of the first half, first scoring on a 7-yard pass from Lehman to Jon Godfrey with 1:15 left and then on a 66-yard strike from Lehman to Sam Pozezinski with 6.5 seconds remaining to head into the half up 34-6.

"Offensively we've been working with the scouts and seeing what we could do against Guerin," Lehman said. "The passing game was open, the line did a great job and the receivers really came out and played."

On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Jordan Torres (4 carries, 57 yards) took it 53 yards to put the Wave up 35.

After a Godfrey interception at midfield, Lehman hooked up with Nick Kerger for a 42-yard TD reception to push the lead to 48-6.

On the Gators' next play from scrimmage they turned it over once more, with Gaige coming up with the fumble recovery. Two plays later the Wave again capitalized, with Jon Keokanlaya taking it in from seven yards out to push the landslide to 55-6. Dan Duffy blocked an extra point in the second quarter.

St. Edward 55, Guerin Prep Academy 6

St. Edward                    14   20    21   0    --  55

Guerin Prep Academy     0     6     0     0    --   6

ST. EDWARD - Hoebbel 27 run (Cholewa kick), 9:36

ST. EDWARD - Hoebbel 57 run (Cholewa kick), 7:37

ST. EDWARD - Lehman 9 run (Cholewa kick), 5:11

GUERIN - D'Alessandro 17 run (kick blocked), 3:51

ST. EDWARD - Godfrey 7 pass from Lehman (Cholewa kick), 1:15

ST. EDWARD - Pozezinski 66 pass from Lehman (run failed), :06

ST. EDWARD - Torres 53 run (Cholewa kick), 11:44

ST. EDWARD - Kerger 42 pass from Lehman (Cholewa kick), 8:56

ST. EDWARD - Keokanlaya 7 run (Cholewa kick), 6:15

Team statistics               STED          GPA

First downs                         10                 8

Comp.-att-int.                10-18-0         18-30-1

Passing yards                    185                159

Rushing-att-yds.              22-267           17-44

Total yards                        452                203

Fumbles-lost                      2-0                3-2

Penalties-yards                 7-45              4-22

Individual statistics

Rushing:

ST. EDWARD -- Hoebbel 2-86, Torres 4-58, Lehman 3-21, Jackson 2-44, Sink 2-13, Thomas 2-17, Godfrey 1-7, S. Finnane 1-10, Horn 1-3, Keokanlaya 1-7, French 1-(minus 5), L. Duffy 1-6, Sakolari 1-(minus 1).

GUERIN PREP ACADEMY -- D'Alessandro 6-24, Kelly 9-(minus 13), Williams 5-31, Victor 1-2.

Passing:

ST. EDWARD -- Lehman 10-18-0 185.

GUERIN PREP ACADEMY -- Kelly 18-30-1 159.

Receiving:

ST. EDWARD -- Von Ahnen 4-44, Hoebbel 2-22, Godfrey 2-11, Pozezinski 1-66, Kerger 1-42.

GUERIN PREP ACADEMY - Rieger 8-37, Diaz 3-72, Victor 3-35, Rangel 1-4, D'Alessandro 1-4, Velasquez 1-6, Williams 1-1.