Providence rolls over Harlan in opener

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NEW LENOX -- After battling and clawing its way to an 8-1 regular season finish and a Chicago Catholic League Blue Division championship, the Providence Catholic Celtics found that they had to get into the state playoffs before they could get a breather.

The Celtics outmanned, out ran and outmudded the Chicago Public League's Harlan Falcons 41-7 on Friday night in the first round of the 6A playoffs.

The Celtics, who played one of the toughest schedules in the state, ran the table after dropping a Week 1 tilt by a 28-7 score at Lincoln-Way East. But the run was not easy. The Celtics won just two of the eight games by more than 10 points and captured narrow wins over Catholic League foes Loyola Academy (10-3), Brother Rice (23-21), St. Laurence (25-17) St. Rita (10-0), De La Salle (25-20) and Mount Carmel (21-17).

"We did what we had to do tonight and got the win to advance to the next round," Celtics coach Mark Coglianese said. "Our offense went out and got the lead and our defense gave up virtually nothing until a breakaway run at the end of the game. And we were able to get some of the second and third-string kids into the game. With our schedule, we haven't had too many opportunities to do that this year."

The field showed the effects of the week's heavy rains as the footing was treacherous and the laundry got dirty very quickly. The rain stopped in the afternoon on Friday but even strong winds that blew in during the early evening hours did not have a chance to dry the field.

Still, the Celtics (9-1) managed to maneuver on the slippery surface. Tim Hanrahan led the Providence ground attack with 209 rushing yards on just 13 attempts, all in a first half that saw the Celtics run out to a 41-0 lead and guarantee a running clock for the second half.

Hanrahan rushed for touchdowns of 2, 4 and 67 yards and also grabbed the Celtics' only pass reception of the night, a 27-yard TD catch from Joey Houlihan.

"Our running game is our bread and butter," said Coglianese. "We didn't plan to throw the ball too much tonight and Hanrahan did another great job of making the big plays."

The other name stealing the spotlight for Providence was Pete Houlihan. He added to his school record of returns for touchdowns by running back a second quarter Harlan punt for 52 yards and the Celtics' fourth touchdown of the game. Houlihan now has 9 returns for scores on defense or special teams, 5 more than the previous mark. He finished the evening with 3 punt returns for 79 yards.

"Pete Houlihan is a very exciting player," Coglianese said. "Anytime he gets his hands on the ball he is going to make things happen."

The Celtics finished with 310 yards of offense -- 235 in the first half. The Providence defense limited Harlan to just 79 total yards -- all but two coming on a 77-yard TD run in the final minutes.

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