Rice shuts out Waubonsie
By Paul LaTour
It’s on to the match against St. Charles for Brother Rice. That’s the matchup people expected and wanted to see in the iYRA Tier 1 semifinals.
The Crusaders were so confident they’d be facing St. Charles, they nearly forgot about their quarterfinal opponent, Waubonsie Valley.
Although the Crusaders lacked focus at times – and were playing without several starters due to injuries or illness – they had enough talent to hand the Warriors a 24-0 defeat Monday at the Chicago Blaze facility in Lemont.
“Waubonsie was much better than when we played them in March,” Crusaders coach Brian Gilmartin said, referring to the 35-5 Rice preseason victory. “But I’d still give us about a C-minus in terms of total effort (Monday). We didn’t handle the ball well and made a lot of mental errors.
“After the match, they said they weren’t focused and the fact they were aware of that is huge from a coaching perspective. I think we’ll be better prepared when we play St. Charles.”
Despite their struggles, the Crusaders were never in danger of losing. They pushed across their first try in the 15th minute after coming up empty on two earlier deep possessions. Connor Yanz bowled across the try line to give the Crusaders a 5-0 lead.
“We started a little sloppy, but definitely in the second half got our groove going,” said Yanz, who played despite a lingering illness. “With the weather and stuff it was a little tough getting the ball to the outside. That’s our bread and butter, and we did that in the second half.”
The top-seeded Crusaders took a 12-0 lead into the break, getting a try as extra time expired. Pete Weyforth picked the ball up from teammate Chuck Busking at the try line for the score and Conor Healy added the conversion.
The Warriors began the second half with their first offensive push, driving the ball inside the 22-meter line for the first time. They were unable to score but five minutes later they were back, thanks to a determined run by sophomore Matt Salvo, who pushed the pack about 10 yards before the Crusaders were able to escape trouble near their try line.
“We didn’t go in with the best mindset.” Salvo said of the early missed chances in the second half. “We thought we were going to get it handed to us. But I think we did pretty well overall.”
Instead of getting back in the game, the Warriors fell further behind a short time later. Rice’s Mike Lynch set up the next try with a run from inside the Crusaders 22 deep into Waubonsie territory. The play started with a lineout inside the 10.
Lynch pitched it to Marius Stalionis, who scored the first of his two second-half tries. Stalionis completed the scoring with five minutes left, and Healy added his second conversion.
The Warriors, who won the Tier 2 state crown last year, concluded their first Tier 1 season with a positive attitude. Although they only won one league game, coach Bob McNeel said the team went out with a strong performance.
“We were the lowly seed playing the No. 1 seed and we actually played very well,” McNeel said. “We played pretty even with them. They just beat us to the breakdowns. That was the difference. But overall I was happy.
“We took our lumps (this season), but we learned from it. We didn’t bow down. You could see the guys progress throughout the season.”
Meanwhile the Crusaders are still in the hunt for another state title, but first they’ll have to get past St. Charles. The two teams have combined to win every state championship since 2001.
The Crusaders will just have to avoid some of the sloppy play they showed Monday.
“When we have our game going on, we’re pretty good,” wing Dan Harrington said. “We’ll be ready for the next game. We’re looking forward to that.”
The Crusaders face St. Charles at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Brother Rice. The winner advances to the state championship game on Memorial Day back at the Blaze facility.
