25 in a row: Seneca runs to 41-0 victory over Aurora Central Catholic

SENECA – The Seneca football program has set some pretty high standards for itself over the past few seasons.

So even while the Fighting Irish ran for 383 yards and scored on all six of their possessions in a 41-0 victory over Aurora Central Catholic on Friday night, Seneca head coach Terry Maxwell was a little frustrated with the first half.

“I feel like, and in a great way, we’ve set a pretty high standard for ourselves,” Maxwell said. “(ACC’s) interior linemen (Charlie Anderson and Joe Brown) were pretty solid, and they were giving us fits trying to run the ball up the middle.

“When you put up over 400 yards of offense and you’re a little frustrated, it is a weird feeling, but it’s a sign of where the bar has been set by the previous teams.”

The win – which moved Seneca to 5-0 on the season – was the program’s 25th consecutive regular-season triumph.

The Chargers fell to 2-3.

“We didn’t play as well as we can play, but we also did a lot of good things here tonight,” Maxwell said. “I thought we hit hard on defense, filled the open space and bent but didn’t break for the most part. We are still learning and progressing every week, and that’s the key. The goal is to be hitting on all facets when the playoffs roll around. I feel like we are on the right track.”

Seneca started with the ball and went 65 yards in seven plays, ending with a 17-yard scamper around left end by quarterback Paxton Giertz, who then added the first of five PAT boots. The Irish forced a punt on ACC’s first possession, and 46 yards and eight plays later Giertz juked his way for a 23-yard TD to make it 14-0.

Then, after forcing a loss on downs, Seneca drove 71 yards on 10 plays, with Nick Grant running the final 28 yards to make it 20-0 with 6:20 left in the second quarter. The Chargers fumbled on their 14 with Seneca’s Zeb Maxwell falling on the ball before, two plays later, Brayden Simek ran for an 8-yard score to make it 27-0 at halftime.

“We got off to a slow start, but I thought we came around in the second half,” Seneca senior center Kellen Arnold said. “I think we may have come into this game not totally ready to go mentally as we should have. We weren’t talking up front like we normally are. We just weren’t as crisp as we normally are.

“This was a learning lesson for all of us. We need to be ready no matter who we are playing. I know it won’t happen again.”

ACC took the opening possession of the second half from its 14 to the Irish 12 in 14 plays but came up short on a fourth-and-1. Seneca then marched to the Chargers 18 in six plays before Giertz hit Brody Rademacher with a scoring pass to make it 34-0.

ACC’s next drive moved the ball to the Irish 6, but the hosts held on fourth down to preserve the shutout. Seneca’s Griffin Hougas closed out the scoring with just over three minutes to play with a 15-yard scoring dash.

Rademacher finished with 147 yards on nine carries, Cameron Shriey 83 on nine, Giertz 64 on six and Grant 43 on four. Giertz was also 3-for-3 passing for 53 yards.

ACC QB Grant Bohr ran for 99 yards on nine tries and Trey Seifrid 86 yards on 18 carries. Bohr was also 4 of 10 for 48 yards, with all of his completions to Aiden Crisci.

“We really didn’t make too many adjustments at halftime, but we did talk about how we weren’t doing all the little things we needed to do,” ACC head coach Christian Rago said. “Almost all of our guys play both sides of the ball, and at times we get a little tired and lose our technique. We talked at halftime about getting back to our fundamentals and coming out and playing as hard as we could in the second half. I felt we did that. These guys are battlers.

“I feel like we made Seneca earn what they got. While this wasn’t the outcome we wanted, I feel like we competed, and I feel like we got better. That’s what we’re hoping to do the rest of the season.”