Brody Rademacher, second-half stops send Seneca past St. Bede

PERU – Seneca used big plays early and often as the Fighting Irish came away with a 36-12 Chicagoland Prairie Conference victory over the St. Bede Bruins on Friday night on the campus of the Academy.

After the Bruins picked up an initial first down on a 5-yard run from Halden Hueneberg and a 5-yard pass from Gino Ferrari to Carson Riva, the Irish defense quickly forced a punt. That put the Seneca offense on the field, and on its first play quarterback Paxton Giertz fumbled the ball and then picked it up for a 9-yard gain. Cameron Shriey had runs of 7 and 8 yards before Brody Rademacher busted free for 18 yards.

That set up a 12-yard run by Giertz, who then used a spin move for a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Irish ahead 7-0.

St. Bede would bounce right back, though, on its next possession. Sophomore workhorse Landon Marquez started things off with an 11-yard run up the middle and then 8 more on third-and-5 before following that up with a 9-yard jaunt. That brought up Grady Gillan, who broke two tackles and then busted off to the right for a 44-yard touchdown run that made it 7-6 after a blocked extra point.

“You know, we came in with some injuries tonight, and I thought the offensive line of Wes Heersink, Garrett Connelly, Jaxon Kozak, Demian Baker and Gavin Marquez did a nice job,” St. Bede coach Jim Eustice said. “I’m really proud of that group tonight.”

The Irish wasted little time responding themselves. Rademacher had a nice kickoff return and then on the first play from scrimmage used misdirection to blast free for a 63-yard touchdown run that made it 13-6.

Rademacher on Seneca’s next possession ran for a 16-yard gain, and then on third-and-2 turned on the jets for a 67-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion put the Irish ahead 21-6.

“On those plays, everyone has to be doing their job in order for things to work,” Seneca coach Terry Maxwell said. “We use a lot of misdirection, and if every lineman, receiver and running back is not doing their job, we wouldn’t be able to get those big runs.”

St. Bede wanted to answer before the half, and that’s exactly what the Bedans did.

Ferarri started things out with an 11-yard completion to Jose DeLaTorre. On fourth-and-1, Marquez picked up 5 yards to keep the drive alive. Ferarri then lobbed up a pass and – despite pass interference on Seneca – DeLaTorre made an incredible diving catch for 17 yards. Marquez then picked another dozen yards before a 1-yard touchdown run oto make it 21-12 heading into halftime.

“Landon is just a workhorse,” Eustice said. “And once his vision gets even better, he’ll see he can turn those 5-to-10-yard gains into 15-plus, but I’m a little disappointed on the 2point conversion, because we practiced it for three weeks, and that would’ve made it a one-score game.”

The Irish had to punt their first second-half possession, but the Bruins could not take advantage as AJ Hermes – filling in for the injured Ferarri – threw a pick-6 to Gunner Varland, who made it 29-12 after Rademacher caught the 2-point conversion.

Seneca’s Brayden Simek ended the Bruins’ next drive with an interception of his own. The Irish then got a 37-yard run from Nick Grant that set up a 27-yard touchdown run from Rademacher that made it 36-12.

“I have to give credit first to the offensive line,” Rademacher said. “And on top of that, with all the misdirection that we run it’s very important for all the guys to block. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be successful.”

Rademacher led all rushers with 212 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns.

For the Bruins, it was Marquez with 150 yards on 32 carries.