‘It’s just trust:’ Brother Rice defense shuts out St. Laurence in 35-6 win

BURBANK — Brother Rice senior defensive lineman Charlie Stec and the rest of the Crusaders defense liked the statistics heading into Friday’s game against St. Laurence.

The numbers told the Crusaders that the Vikings liked to run the ball a lot, even with St. Laurence senior starting quarterback Chase Kwiatkowski. With Kwiatkowski sidelined for a third straight week with an arm injury, the Vikings would need to throw the ball even more.

That’s exactly what the Crusaders wanted to hear.

Brother Rice showed off its top run defense once again Friday. The Crusaders stuffed the Vikings and the offense took advantage to pick up a 35-6 win.

“It’s just trust,” Stec said. “We have a brotherhood here, it’s Brother Rice. We have the energy, we couldn’t stop the energy. We kept going.”

That energy started right from the start when the Brother Rice (5-3) defense forced a three-and-out. The Crusaders kept that going the rest of the first half, allowing 12 passing yards and 14 rushing yards in the first half and no first downs.

After the Crusaders scored on their opening drive, Stec got involved in the scoring. He rushed to stop the running back on a play and ended up with the ball in his hands. He returned the ball 15 yards and scored a touchdown to give the Crusaders a 28-6 lead with 6:18 left in the third quarter.

“It landed in my hands and I couldn’t believe it,” Stec said. “I didn’t even know I was in the end zone. I was so excited about it.”

St. Laurence (6-2) didn’t pick up its first down until the third quarter off a penalty. The Vikings gained a first down on a play late in the fourth quarter.

Brother Rice coach Casey Quedenfeld has seen the Crusaders elevate its game since its Week 4 loss to Loyola.

“Since that game, our defense has played significantly with more effort,” Quedenfeld said. “It’s showing right now, it’s showing right now. They’re going to continue to get better.”

The offense showed improvement too. Junior quarterback CJ Gray put his team up early when he found senior Jimmie Maxson III for a 19-yard touchdown with 8:42 left in the first quarter to make it 7-0 Crusaders. Senior Tyler Lofton scored on a 2-yard run to make it 14-0 with 3:04 left in the second quarter while Gray rushed in for a touchdown to make it 21-6 with 6:27 left in the third.

Senior Conner Stack scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Gray went 9-of-16 for 92 yards with a touchdown and interception and a rushing touchdown. Lofton rushed for 89 yards on 19 carries and touchdown while sophomore Jameson Davis earned 36 rushing yards on eight carries.

Gray was happy to see the offense respond in the second half after he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, leading to a 14-6 Crusaders halftime lead.

“We felt like we didn’t play the way we wanted to,” Gray said. “So it’s flushing everything that happened and doing the little things, running the ball and going down to score.”

Vikings junior Ayden Ginn got his team on the board late in the second quarter when he returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown to make it a 14-6 Brother Rice lead with 17 seconds left. Junior quarterback Jimmy McDermott completed 5 of his 13 passes for 32 yards while Ginn had 14 rushing yards.

“It’s just trust. We have a brotherhood here, it’s Brother Rice. We have the energy, we couldn’t stop the energy. We kept going.”

—  Charlie Stec, Brother Rice senior

Although St. Laurence coach Adam Nissen gave the Crusaders credit for stopping them from making plays, he also felt the Vikings played as well as they could have.

“They made the plays when they needed to,” Nissen said. “We’ve got to get better heading into next week.”

They’ll get an opportunity to do that against Montini in Week 9 on Friday while the Crusaders end the regular season against St. Ignatius.

Brother Rice will return to the playoffs for a sixth straight season. But the Crusaders are ready to prove more.

“It feels good to get in the playoffs,” Gray said. “Now we’re got to get one more next Friday.”