Evan Entrican helps St. Bede hold off Tuscola

BLOOMINGTON – Evan Entrican first made the game-saving defensive play.

Then he made the biggest catch of the game.

In Friday’s season opener for the St. Bede football team against Tuscola, the Bruins and Warriors were locked up in an offensive track meet with the teams trading scores and the lead.

That was until Entrican stepped up.

With SBA up by one late in the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-3 Entrican made a finger-tip fourth-down deflection to give SBA the defensive stop it needed, then made a 31-yard reception on third-and-12 to all but seal an eventual 34-25 Bruins’ victory.

“It was amazing and such a great feeling,” Entrican said of his big catch. “I faked like I was blocking, then went up the middle as the play was designed to go to me. (After the catch), I just looked at the fans and celebrated.”

Entrican’s pass breakup came with SBA clinging to 26-25 lead and Tuscola driving.

The Bruins regained the lead on a 12-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Max Bray to senior receiver Alex Ankiewicz – who was playing in his first football game – to give SBA the one-point lead with 8:15 remaining.

Much like it did the entire game, Tuscola had an answer, as it drove 39 yards in seven plays before it faced a fourth-and-4 from SBA’s 32-yard line. On fourth down, Entrican broke up a sure first-down pass by Tuscola quarterback Jordan Quinn.

The defensive stop not only ended the drive but changed the momentum for good.

“The quarterback was rolling out, and I knew there was a receiver behind me, so I dropped back, batted it out and celebrated,” Entrican said. “Best feeling ever.”

Tasked with running out the clock, Bray and the Bruin offense took some time off but faced a third-and-12 with 2:21 left in the game. That’s when Bray found Entrican up the seam for a 31-yard connection.

Needing just a first down to secure the win, Bray scored on a 22-yard TD to cap the win.

Bray led the SBA offense all night as the senior transfer ran for 215 yards and three TDs on 22 carries, while completing 15 of 22 passes for 158 yards with a TD and an interception.

“Max is such a talent,” SBA coach Jim Eustice said. “He’s got the height and strength and just enough foot speed. His football IQ is off the charts, and he’s picking things up so fast. He did a great job leading us tonight.”

Friday wasn’t always easy for SBA as it not only dealt with Tuscola but also a 1 hour, 44-minute lightning delay coming out of halftime.

“After about 15 minutes, we realized we were going to be in there for a while so we got the pads off and we looked at some film,” Eustice said. “Then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game anticipating what they were going to do and what we should do. We made some defensive adjustments, and the kids responded.”

After a back-and-forth start to the second half, both teams resumed their scoring.

Halden Hueneburg scored on a 10-yard TD run to give the Bruins a 20-19 lead with 3:46 left in the third quarter.

Later in the third, Tuscola recovered a muffed SBA punt and turned it into a 9-yard TD run with 1:38 left in the third.

SBA took the lead for good on Ankiewicz’s catch-and-run TD reception from Bray, setting up Entrican’s pass breakup on Tuscola’s next drive.

“This is a huge win,” Entrican said. “We didn’t know anything about them coming in, but the rain delay actually helped us. We were able to go in and figure some stuff out.”