Through the first 24 minutes opposite No. 5 Joliet Catholic on Friday at Benedictine University, Benet proved it could stand toe-to-toe with the highly ranked Hilltoppers.
The last 24 minutes was about finishing the job.
Jack Sznajder’s touchdown pass to Charlie Weidenbach with just over four minutes to play provided Benet enough spark to knock Joliet Catholic from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 24-21 East Suburban Catholic victory.
With the Redwings clinging to a 17-14 lead and facing a fourth-and-one from the Hilltoppers’ 21, they turned back the clock to 2012 – the last time they beat the Hilltoppers.
Sznajder found Weidenbach over the middle and the 6-foot-1, 218-pound fullback and linebacker did the rest in cruising into the end zone with Sznajder’s third touchdown pass of the night.
“Back in 2012, we were at JCA and playing for the conference championship,” Weidenbach said. “It was fourth-and-short late in the game and we ran a trap pass to Nick Surges, who was our tight end. We called the play again and they were expecting the run. It was wide open, so execution there.”
In helping Benet (6-2, 4-2) officially clinch a postseason berth for the fifth time in six seasons under coach Pat New while avenging consecutive shutout losses to Joliet Catholic (7-1, 5-1), Sznajder did his job.
An interception to Luke Phelan aside, Sznajder was efficient in completing 27 of his 39 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns.
Sznajder hit eight receivers and threw touchdown passes to Alec McEachern, Will O’Grady and Weidenbach.
“When you got a lot of receivers out there like we do, we got a lot of depth and a lot of talent there,” he said. “So it’s easy to spread the ball around because you know you’ve got a lot of weapons to get it to.”
Matt Tromp led the way with his seven receptions for 84 yards.
Defensively, the Redwings forced Joliet Catholic into committing four turnover on downs and forced four turnovers.
McEachern, who got Benet on the board with a 13-yard TD reception in the first quarter, picked off Hilltoppers’ QB Cade Earl while Erik Jones recovered a pair of Michael Johnson fumbles.
“We just had a great game plan,” McEachern said. “We were mixing it up, so they didn’t know what we were doing and we just guessed right. The outcome shows.”
Earl ended his night with three touchdown passes for the Hilltoppers, with a pair of second-half TDs going to Bill Rotnicki and one going to Michael Johnson early in the second.
Worried about the vaunted Joliet Catholic triple option coming into the game, Ke’von Johnson and Michael Johnson combined for 158 rushing yards on 36 carries but were kept out of the end zone by Benet.
“They’ve got a couple great running backs and containing those guys is key,” New said. “I’ll tell you what, (Earl) – their passing game is a fantastic passing game. People always think Joliet Catholic running the ball, but I knew coming in – they can throw the ball. They’re pretty successful and they gashed us a few times through the air. So it was just trying to limit big plays, I think.”
The Redwings’ defense forced the Hilltoppers to turn the ball over on downs three times in the first half.
However, two turnovers of their own prohibited them from taking further advantage than going into halftime tied 7-7.
Colin Hall fumbled after a 24-yard reception deep in Joliet Catholic territory and Jones fumbled a punt to give the Hilltoppers good field position.
As the Redwings hope to go into the Class 7A postseason on a solid note by following up this victory with one next week at Marian Catholic, New knows things are there to be worked on.
“I really felt we’re squandering opportunities,” he said. “When you play a great team like JCA, you can’t have fumbles. You got to make the most out of your opportunities and we’ve got to shore up our special teams. We’ve had a couple field goals blocked now in the last couple of weeks. So we got to work on that stuff because we were fortunate to get a win.”
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