Benet gives St. Patrick the boot
LISLE -- High school kickers don't often get the chance to be a hero. When Benet's Kevin Kron got his in the Redwings' East Suburban Catholic Conference football game against St. Patrick, he came through. Twice.
After hitting a 36-yard field goal to tie the game at 20 with 3:27 remaining, Kron drilled a 29-yarder with 5.5 seconds left to cap a Benet rally and give the Redwings a thrilling 23-20 win over St. Patrick on Friday night at the Village of Lisle-Benedictine Sports Complex.
"It was a great feeling," said Kron, who also booted a 28-yarder in the third quarter. "There was a lot of pressure on the game, but I just thought, keep on doing it like practice. It's as simple as that."
An interception by Redwings' sophomore Phil Schmidt had led to Kron's game-tying field goal, and the game-winner was set up by Schmidt's blocked punt, which gave Benet possession at the Shamrocks' 13-yard line with 43.8 seconds to play.
"They were overloading to the right side," Schmidt said. "I just cut in and it was a line drive and I just got up in front of it."
Benet (2-5, 2-3 ESCC) was eliminated from the IHSA state playoff race with last week's loss to Marist - by an identical 23-20 score, incidentally - but one certainly couldn't tell by the Redwings' inspired performance against St. Patrick.
On Benet's first offensive play, quarterback Jimmy Riley threw a perfect deep ball to Emmett Carrier along the near sideline, and Carrier took it the rest of the way for an 80-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
St. Patrick (2-5, 1-4) scored the equalizer on a 36-yard Adam Nitsche run early in the second quarter, before taking a 14-7 lead on an 8-yard Mike Fabrizio touchdown pass to Jeff Dicks with 4:47 remaining before halftime.
Down by a touchdown, Benet took the second-half kickoff and marched deep into Shamrocks territory, thanks largely to a 44-yard run by junior Mike Wuest (eight carries, 80 yards). But the drive got bogged down at the St. Patrick 10-yard line and the Redwings had to settle for Kron's first field goal.
On Benet's next possession, the Shamrocks' Eric Silva intercepted a Riley pass and returned it for a 37-yard touchdown and a 20-10 lead. The extra point was wide left.
A penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave Benet possession near midfield, and a 28-yard Wuest run and a 16-yard reception by Carrier (three catches, 105 yards) brought the Redwings down to the 6-yard line. From there, fullback Dan McGue plowed into the end zone to trim the deficit to three.
Still clinging to a 20-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Shamrocks drove deep into Benet territory. But on a fourth-and-3 from the Redwings 4, St. Patrick eschewed the field goal attempt, and Fabrizio's pass for Dicks was too high, meaning Kron's two field goals would be enough to win it.
Contact Dan Stark at dstark@scn1.com or 630-416-5287.
