Seneca’s big plays take down feisty Marquette 21-6

SENECA – There is no question that the Marquette Crusaders are a much-improved football team since their 35-point nonconference loss to Seneca at Gould Stadium in Week 3.

But just how far that improvement would take them in the rematch, the Fighting Irish had a little something to say about that.

After the pumped-up Crusaders broke in front with a score on their first possession and battled it to a one-point deficit well into the third quarter, Seneca stayed calm and pounded away until one of its runners slipped a tackle for a long touchdown.

In this case, it was junior Cameron Shriey who broke a pair of long TD runs in the second half to ensure the Irish a 21-6 victory over the Cru in their Chicagoland Prairie Conference finale.

Shriey’s scoring bursts of 64 and 45 yards allowed the Irish (8-0) to pull away from their narrow 7-6 halftime edge, while sending him to 153 ground yards on just nine carries on the night. Nick Grant added 10 carries for 96 yards, including a 44-yard scoring scamper in the second quarter, and Brody Rademacher chipped in 82 yards on just eight tries.

Together, Seneca finished with 334 yards on 30 attempts, somewhat deceiving numbers considering its struggles with Marquette’s defense throughout.

“This was more like what I thought the first one would be like,” Seneca coach Terry Maxwell said. “We knew that something like that was not going to happen again against a good football team that’s well-coached. Things just fell our way last time, but they made us work for everything we got tonight.

“Tonight was a credit to our kids. We do a lot of similar stuff over and over, so we do the mundane things really well. When you run this style of offense, you have to embrace that. It’s not flashy, but it’s been good to us.”

For the Crusaders (5-3), Grant Dose had another workhorse night, rushing 20 times for 101 yards. With Payton Gutierrez adding 13 rushes for 56 yards – 5 coming on the Cru’s lone TD of the night – and Anthony Couch completing 7-of-11 passes for 71 yards, Marquette ended up with 176 ground yards and 247 overall.

That lone score ended a seven-play, 79-yard opening drive that included a 32-yard Dose run and Blayden Cassel’s amazing 34-yard, falling-down catch of a Couch pass to the Irish 7.

But Seneca answered when Grant slipped through the line for a 44-yard score that, with Paxton Giertz’s PAT kick, made it 7-6 home team.

An interception by Kevin Einhaus gave Seneca possession again, but Rush Keefer’s break-up of a Giertz pass to Brady Sheedy at the goal line kept the score there at the break.

“It wasn’t anything that we did especially for this game. It’s that we’ve just been getting better through the weeks and have all season long,” MA coach Tom Jobst said. “My takeaway from this is that we played another great game – added to the last few that we’ve played – against a very good team. We knew we can play with a lot of good people, and we intend to do that every week.

“Our kids don’t care about [Seneca’s ranking and the size disparity of the schools]. They just come and play and play hard. We’re a good team, and we’re proud of them.”

But Shriey stepped up late. He broke free at the line and outran the Cru for a 64-yard TD in the third quarter. Despite a Keaton Davis punt that backed the hosts up to their own 2, Shriey did it again in the fourth. After a 42-yard burst by Rademacher, Shriey took it the last 45 yards three plays later to widen the margin to 21-6.

“Marquette has improved a lot since the last time,” Shriey said. “After I saw that they beat St. Bede by a decent margin, I knew this was going to be a good game. … The last time we were able to beat them with the trap, but they covered that up well to take Brody away, so we went to the halfbacks, the misdirection plays. That opens things up for me, and I was ready.”

Seneca finishes the season at home with Du-Pec, while the Cru entertain Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington again at Gould.