3A: Nathan Grant leads Seneca romp over Winnebago

SENECA — It’s been a long time since the Seneca Fighting Irish earned a victory in the IHSA football playoffs, so when the opportunity presented itself against Winnebago on Friday night, they were ready.

So ready that the only thing that really wasn’t working for the Irish was the clock on their stadium scoreboard.

Seneca celebrated its first trip to the postseason since 2019 with its first playoff win since 2013, using quarterback Nathan Grant’s 17 carries for a career-best 215 yards and a touchdown, plus – in an uncharacteristic phase for the run-heavy Irish – two TD passes. His numbers, part of a whopping 490 yards of total offense for the home team, allowed No. 3 seed Seneca to score on seven of its eight possessions on the night and breeze to a 48-20 victory over No. 14-seeded Winnebago in a Class 3A opener.

The win, the first since the Irish defeated Chicago Robeson 46-6 in the second round nine years ago, sends undefeated Seneca (10-0) into the second round again, this time most likely at home against No. 6-seeded Byron. The Tigers moved to 9-1 after dispatching No. 11-seeded Lisle 52-7 in Byron on Friday night.

“I am just so proud of our kids,” Seneca coach Terry Maxwell said. “When we saw the draw last week, we knew this would be a tough game against a good team from the Big Northern [Conference] we respect very much, but I told the kids Winnebago hasn’t seen anything like us, either. A lot of people knock our smaller conference [Tri-County], but we didn’t just win our conference, we dominated it, and tonight the kids proved that they belong, even to those who may have doubted us in 3A.”

The clock notwithstanding, the Irish were clicking right away, a 34-yard run by Grant setting up his 15-yard scoring scamper less than four minutes in.

The Irish defense, which surrendered just 79 ground yards – 58 of those on 18 tries by ace back Supreme Muhammed – on the night, extended its string of consecutive quarters without allowing a single point to 21 by holding ‘Bago on its only series of the first quarter.

The Irish widened their lead to 14-0 when a 43-yard run by Braden Ellis led to a 23-yard scoring pass from Grant to Kysen Klinker, and the second of Paxton Giertz’s six PAT kicks made it 14-0.

Ellis capped the next Irish possession with a 9-yard scoring run, but this time the Indians responded. Brandon Wiggan returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to the Irish 25, and on the next play quarterback Alec Weavel tossed a scoring pass to Kadon Steurer to cut into that margin. When Grant was picked off on the next series, it looked like ‘Bago would draw closer, reaching the Seneca 12 before the hosts knocked down two passes into the end zone as the half expired.

But the Irish grabbed the momentum back when Ellis intercepted a Weavel pass early in the second half, and five plays later turned it into a 42-yard touchdown.

Winnebago got a 17-yard scoring pass from Weavel to Wiggan in the third period, but in the final stanza, Klinker ran in a 7-yard score, Grant found a wide-open Collin Wright for a 5-yard TD, and senior Dominick Griffin put the icing on the cake with a 25-yard trip to paydirt, the last of Seneca’s 50 carries for 465 rush yards.

Wiggan added a 3-yard TD as time expired.

“I felt like that drive right before the half and the drive right out of the half really hurt us,” Winnebago coach Mark Helm said. “We were marching the ball to get down 21-7 and they threw that interception in the red zone, but give them credit. They had a good plan.

“We haven’t played against any offense that ran things that tight. We knew that coming in, and that they’re also very big and their backs run hard … and their quarterback is a good athlete. That was a big concern coming into this one, but they were still able to get him through there, made some lanes for him and he did a nice job moving the ball. … I wish them the best of luck moving forward.”