For homecoming queen Kayla Martin and king David Prots, the beautiful weather Friday night only capped a whirlwind of events at the game between Walsh Jesuit and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin.
On the field, two young teams rebuilding themselves had to battle to establish supremacy any way they could. The Lions did it with steady play on offense using big plays, plus a defense keyed at the line of scrimmage, took an early edge and built on it.
NDCL claimed a solid 21-3 win in North Coast League action.
“We’re a young team this season compared to some others,” NDCL coach Andrew Mooney said. “We always want to attack full throttle on defense and try to set up our offense with big stops. If we can put seven guys in the box from the beginning, we usually have some success on offense, too.”
Harrison Richardson got some important yardage early to establish the running game for the Lions, and with a defense of the Walsh Warriors keying on Brandon Mounts all night, the senior tailback who scored all three touchdowns for his team didn’t get the usual yardage he normally might get.
However, Richardson had a huge 36-yard dash on the third play after he had recovered a loose ball from Walsh to stop their first drive at the NDCL 19-yard line.
Six plays later, Mounts crashed in from the two, Gabe Brkic booted the first of his three extra point kicks on the night, and NDCL had gained the upper hand physically.
On their next possession, the Lions saw a Charles Forbes pass get deflected at the line of scrimmage and picked off at the Warrior 40-yard line.
The first serious drive of the game for the Warriors (1-6, 0-2 in NCL) ensued, but stalled just inside Lion territory. A short punt set up NDCL at its own 20, and a short drive of their own ended in a punt, but it was fumbled with Jake Marut recovering at the Warrior 20. Mounts capped a seven-play drive from the 1-yard line, and that’s how the first half ended.
Walsh took the second half kickoff at their 20 and saw their drive stall at the NDCL 26, from where Quinn Saluan drilled a 43-yard field goal to briefly halt the Lion’s momentum.
It did look like trouble for the Lions, though. Their first play after the next kickoff was picked off, but a yellow flag effectively killed any spark that was developing for Walsh.
A roughing-the-passer infraction gave the ball back to NDCL, and it served as a wake up call.
A 26-yard dash from Forbes took the ball to the 1, and Mounts tallied again for the final scoring for the evening.
“I’m just having a great time this year,” Forbes said. “I didn’t play last year, but all of the guys are helping me get used to the system on the fly, and have been welcoming me into the team every day. We had a chance to work out during summer, too, and that has helped me settle in very well.”
Mistakes altered the numbers a lot for the Lions. They out-gained Walsh overall by 234 to 150 in total offense; the Warriors had 11 first downs to nine for NDCL.
Forbes had a deceiving total, netting just 14 yards on 16 carries, but he had a couple snaps sail over his head that cut into the stat line. Richardson gained 56 yards on 10 tries, and Mounts was held in check, gaining just 21 yards on 10 carries. However, he could not be stopped on those three short rushes to the goal line, and with superior play from his line on both sides of the ball, it spelled trouble for Walsh.
Keying the overall effort was senior leadership, starting with linebacker Ryan LaBanc.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on the team this year,” he said. “Still, they have a lot of talent, so it’s important for us seniors to guide them along and teach them as many tricks we can to be successful, and it’s paying off. With all of their talent, I just want to help them bring it along .”
“Everything starts in the line for us,” Mooney said. “I thought (Michael) Varcelli, (Randy) Cumley, (Brian) Carney, (Bobby) Sterkel, (Eddie) Zucker and (Aidan) McDonald all did a great job controlling things on both sides of the ball for us, and that kept us in a good way all night.”
On a beautiful night celebrating Homecoming, that is what makes a night complete for any team.
The Lions now prepare for their final home game of the season this week against archrival Lake Catholic, on Senior Night as well.