November 23, 2003

BY DAN RUANE

All game long, St. Rita battled to overcome the superior speed of Bloomington. But in what turned out to be the key play of the game, that speed was the difference as the Mustangs fell 20-7 to the Purple Raiders at Doyle Stadium.

Bloomington will return to the Class 6A final to meet Carmel at 1 p.m. Saturday in Champaign.

"It didn't surprise me how fast they were,'' St. Rita coach Todd Kuska said. "They were probably the fastest team we saw all year, and it was hard to answer to that.''

BLOOMINGTON 20

ST. RITA 7

Trailing 14-7, the Mustangs started a drive on their own 29-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Mike Kafka had come in to play quarterback, and his ability to run the option started opening holes for Wade Weyer, who was limited to 39 yards in the first half. Running the ball on eight straight plays, the Mustangs (11-2) moved to the Bloomington 19 and had taken the momentum.

St. Rita decided to go for the touchdown, and Kafka's pass to Mike Wilkinson was picked off at the 3 by Bloomington's Adrian Arrington. Arrington used his speed to jump in front of Wilkinson on the play with 7:27 remaining.

"The kid made a great play,'' Wilkinson said. "He saw it and reacted to it real quickly.''

"We had all the momentum there and wanted to take a shot and score,'' Kuska said. "The play was open, but [Arrington] made a nice play on it.''

St. Rita trailed 14-0 at half but closed the gap to 14-7 when Weyer returned a punt behind a wall down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter. That play ignited the sell-out crowd.

It was an especially big play after the Mustangs were stopped on the goal line when Weyer, who finished with 31 carries for 132 yards, was stopped twice inside the Bloomington 5 by Illinois-bound linebacker Justin Harrison.

"They had us on our heels for the entire second half,'' Bloomington coach Rigo Schmelzer said.

St. Rita had chances but could not move the ball past its own 11, leading to Harrison's eight-yard touchdown run and the final score. Another drive was stopped at the Bloomington 32 on fourth down when Harrison stuffed Bob Gleich for a two-yard loss.

James Wade led Bloomington with 24 carries for 196 yards and two touchdowns.