Flag football: Romeoville moves above .500 with 29-0 shutout of Joliet Central

JOLIET – It’s been a roller-coaster season for the Romeoville flag football team. A 1-2 start was followed by three straight wins before dropping back-to-back games. Sitting at .500 entering Monday night, the Spartans wanted to get back on track and hopefully make a statement.

Make a statement is exactly what they did.

Playing at Joliet Central, the Spartans’ defense shut out the Steelmen, coming up with two interceptions and a sack. Quarterback Jenna Jarmus threw three touchdowns, while Milan Cadet totaled 116 yards and three scores. It all amounted to a 29-0 victory over the Steelmen.

The win moves the Spartans to 5-4. Central remains winless.

“I liked the crispness of our offense,” Romeoville coach Chaz Kuhn said. “They looked really good. We had a tournament over the weekend, so I think that helped out, because they didn’t have the weekend off. The defense really held [Joliet Central] and shut them out.

“Any time the defense can get the offense the ball, they can keep the rhythm going, which I like.”

The offense was on point. Jarmus finished the day 11-of-14 passing for 131 yards, while Cadet ran for 60 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries. Cadet caught four passes for 56 yards and two touchdowns to give her three on the day.

“We just talked about focusing in and knowing what we’re doing on stuff [going into the game],” Cadet said. “Hopefully this leads to more wins [and] touchdowns and makes getting into the playoffs easier.”

After a three-and-out by the Steelmen to open the game, Romeoville wasted no time getting the scoring started. Cadet ripped off a 46-yard run on the Spartans’ second offensive play to set up first-and-goal at the Steelmen 2-yard line. Two plays later, Cadet punched it in to put Romoeville up 6-0 six minutes in.

After an interception by the Spartans’ Natalie Pina, the offense needed just five plays to march down the field before Cadet scored again. This time it was on an 8-yard pass from Jarmus, and the 2-point conversion made it 14-0 Spartans with nine minutes left in the half.

Joliet Central responded with a 22-yard pass from Ava Kasper to Marysol Hernandez, but Elani Trejo came up with an interception to halt the Steelmen’s progress. Five plays later, Jarmus threw her second touchdown of the night, this one to Alexis Villarreal from 2 yards out. A successful extra point made it 21-0 Romeoville with just over two minutes left in the first half.

Credit Joliet Central for continuing to fight.

Central started the second half with an interception by April Ortiz, and Jamaria Holmes picked up an interception late in the game. In between that, however, Jarmus and Cadet connected for a 35-yard touchdown to give each of them three TDs on the day.

“It’s feeling really good,” Jarmus said. “I feel like we can continue to improve as the season goes on. We’re always looking forward to [the future] and striving for an even better season and record. There’s always room for improvement. ... I want to improve in terms of reading defenses as a young quarterback who has never played before.”

As for the Steelmen, the offense seemed to be gaining momentum and was driving late before the game was called off at the two-minute mark. There were a few chunk plays on offense, but a pair of interceptions and 21 first-half points allowed resulted in the fifth loss in as many games for Joliet Central.

“Going into the next game, we have to put forth more effort,” coach Carlotta Mclaurin said. “We have to work hard and focus on where we need to be. We just have to put our all in it.”