St. Edward falls short in showdown

ELGIN – St. Edward will have to wait at least another week to clinch a postseason berth and at least another year to claim a conference title.

The Green Wave failed in both attempts Friday with a 23-18 loss against Aurora Christian at Greg True Field.

St. Edward was held to its lowest offensive output in terms of total yards and couldn't come up with an answer on defense for a punishing Eagles ground attack in the second half.

That all added up to a disappointing homecoming for the Wave, which is playoff eligible but still needs one win in its final two games to secure the program's first playoff appearance since 2003. St. Edward also saw its league title hopes dashed as Aurora Christian (5-2, 4-0) wrapped up the first-ever Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division championship with the win.

"Poor execution sums up the whole game," St. Edward coach Mike Rolando said. "We had too many dropped balls on offense. We were awful tackling and awful wrapping up on defense. They pushed us up and down the field."

The Wave (5-2, 2-2) mounted a 12-play drive on the game's opening possession that resulted in a 26-yard field goal by senior Jim Cholewa. That proved to be the high-water mark for St. Edward's offense, which had a hard time sustaining drives for the rest of the night.

The Green Wave was held to 199 total yards and 60 rushing yards, both season lows. St. Edward, which had negative-20 yards on nine carries in the second half, entered the game averaging 438 total yards and 280.5 rushing yards per contest.

"We started running the ball OK, but they started doing some things up front and that got us out of our game plan," Rolando said.

Despite the offensive woes, the Wave's 3-0 lead held up until Aurora Christian's John McGee scored on a 2-yard touchdown plunge with 1:28 left in the first half to put the Eagles ahead 6-3.

The McGee scoring run proved to be a sign of things to come as the Eagles junior running back ran wild in the second half, piling up 144 yards on 25 carries in the final two quarters. He finished the night with 166 yards and two touchdowns as Aurora Christian piled up 358 total yards.

"We just missed tackles and couldn't find their running back," St. Edward senior Jon Godfrey said. "Missed tackles, that's basically it."

Trailing 14-3 early in the third quarter, Godfrey gave the Wave life when he returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown to pull St. Edward within 14-9. The momentum was short-lived, though, as Aurora Christian scored eight plays later on a 17-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Grayson Roberts to sophomore Mitch Holtz.

St. Edward stayed within striking distance when Cholewa connected on a 36-yard field goal with 32 seconds left in the third quarter to make the score 20-12. The Eagles answered with a field goal of their own on the ensuing drive when Julian Sosa lined a 27-yard kick through the uprights to make it a two-possession game again with 7:42 left.

Wave quarterback Ben Lehman, who struggled for most of the game, finally found a rhythm late in the fourth quarter and led an eight-play, 88-yard scoring drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass to senior David Hoebbel. The strike pulled St. Edward within 23-18 with 1:57 left, but it proved too little too late when Cholewa's ensuing onside kick failed to travel 10 yards, giving the Eagles possession and a chance to run out the clock.

In addition to earning the conference crown, Aurora Christian also secured its eighth straight trip to the playoffs. The Eagles finished second in Class 4A last year.

"This is big," Aurora Christian coach Don Beebe said. "I told the boys that out of the 16 teams that went to state last year, this was the only one that they said in the preseason rankings wouldn't get back to playoffs. The guys were inspired tonight to come out and win the conference title."

AURORA CHRISTIAN 23, ST. EDWARD 18

Aurora Christian     0    6   14    3   --   23

St. Edward             3    0    9     6   --   18

STED – FG Cholewa 26, 7:22

AC – J. McGee 2 run (pass failed), 1:28

AC – J. McGee 40 run (J. McGee run), 9:15

STED – Godfrey 54 interception return (pass failed), 7:23

AC – Holtz 17 pass from Roberts (run failed), 4:15

STED – FG Cholewa 36, 0:32

AC – FG Sosa 27, 7:42

STED – Hoebbel 31 pass from Lehman (pass failed), 1:57

TEAM STATISTICS           STED         AC

First downs                               16              19

Comp.-att.-int.                       9-25-0     11-24-1

Passing yards                           139            158

Rushing att.-yards                   31-60        41-200

Total yards                              199             358

Fumbles-lost                           2-1              4-2

Penalties-yards                       4-42           9-90

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:

STED – Hoebbel 16-74, Torres 4-13, Keokanlaya 2-(-1), Godfrey 2-(-2), Lehman 7-(-24).

AC – J. McGee 34-166, S. McGee 3-51, Roberts 4-(-17).

Passing:

STED – Lehman 9-25-0 139.

AC – Roberts 11-23-1 158, S. McGee 0-1-0 0.

Receiving:

STED – Hoebbel 3-58, Von Ahnen 4-49, Pozezinski 1-25, Godfrey 1-7.

AC – S. McGee 3-64, Earwood 2-29, Smith 1-26, Holtz 2-19, J. McGee 2-12, Luckman.1-8.