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Class 6A Football Playoffs
St.Rita just can't click
Sunday, November 23, 2003
By Tony Baranek Saturday night, St. Rita was once again on the doorstep. Only this time
Bloomington helped itself by making a great defensive play.
Did that make the sting of a 20-7 defeat a little easier to take for
St. Rita? Um, no. Not really.
"We made some plays. We just couldn't find the end zone," said junior
running back Wade Weyer, whose 131 yards rushing provided most of St.
Rita's offense. "It just wasn't our night."
The Mustangs tried to make it so in the second half, scoring on a
45-yard punt return by Weyer and getting to within 19 yards of pay dirt
and a possible 14-all tie with less than eight minutes remaining in the
game.
But after eight straight running plays that netted a total of 52 yards
and four first downs, quarterback Michael Kafka changed up and fired a
pass up the middle to Mike Wilkinson at the goal line. Bloomington
defender Donald Brown dived in front of Wilkinson and made the
interception at the Purple Raiders' 3.
"It was a play that we work on and it was open," St. Rita coach Todd
Kuska said. "It was open, but the DB (Brown) just made a great play and
jumped in front of the pass and picked it off. Their guys want to win,
too."
St. Rita would not have another quality chance to score, and saw its
season end at 11-2.
Bloomington came into the game undefeated at 12-0 and showed why,
flashing lots of speed and scoring two touchdowns in the first half.
Good field position allowed the Purple Raiders to start their first
successful possession at the St. Rita 29. A lucky bounce off St. Rita's
springy artificial turf helped senior James Wade (23 carries, 202 yards)
recover a fumble on a pitch left and convert it into a 3-yard TD run with
2:06 left in the first period.
There was no lucky bounce on Bloomington's second score — just raw
speed — as Wade took a pitch right and raced 54 yards. The second of two
PAT kicks by Jeremy Peden made it 14-0 with 6:27 left in the second
quarter.
St. Rita, meanwhile, found nothing but frustration on offense in the
first half, as its running game was basically shut down (Weyer had just 37
yards) and the passing attack very erratic (quarterback Mike Cummings was
3-for-16 for 40 yards).
Weyer turned things around with 1:26 remaining in the third period,
however, when he returned a punt 43 yards for a touchdown. Ryan Donahue
booted the PAT.
St. Rita's defense then responded in kind with a stop at its own 29.
Earlier in the third quarter, an interception by Mike Wilkinson kept
Bloomington from easing away.
"We knew that they (Bloomington) had speed, but I think we
underestimated a little bit in the first half," senior defensive tackle
Artie Pauls said. "In the second half we stayed with the same game plan,
we just picked it up a little bit. We tried to give them a chance to win
it."
After Brown's interception drained the life out of St. Rita's scoring
chance in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, Bloomington moved the
ball to midfield before kicking away to the St. Rita 6.
Weyer went five yards on first down but Cummings, back at quarterback
for the Mustangs, then threw two consecutive passes that went in and out
of the hands of Weyer. On fourth down, he tried one more time to find
Weyer, but two Bloomington defenders clobbered him from behind as the ball
flew over his head.
Two plays later, the Purple Raiders clinched the win on a 7-yard TD run
by Justin Harrison.
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