A week ago, St. Laurence football coach Mike O`Neill walked back to the team bus with his head down and a dejected look on his face. The Vikings had lost their first game of the season, 14-2 to Brother Rice.
Sunday afternoon at Hanson Stadium, O`Neill was smiling again, even laughing a little. He stood among his players following their 34-6 Catholic League North Division victory over Weber and told them how well they had played, scoring 33 points.
A few of the Vikings reminded O`Neill they had 34 points. The St. Laurence coach smiled and corrected himself. He didn`t mind. The Vikings (4-1, 1-0) had won their North Division opener, a crucial game in their drive to the state playoffs.
”We had told them this game was pretty much the season,” O`Neill said.
”If we lose this, you`ve got to go 4-0 to get in.”
St. Laurence started the game like it meant business, driving 66 yards with the opening kickoff. Junior quarterback Scott Miller, starting his second game since No. 1 quarterback Dave Ritter broke his wrist, scored from a yard out.
O`Neill agreed that Dave Hultquist, a 6-foot-1-inch, 210-pound fullback, ran stronger Sunday than he had last week. Hultquist had 38 yards on 8 carries in the opening drive and finished with 135 yards on 31 carries.
Starting tailback Stan Smagala missed his second full game because of a knee injury (he`s expected back next Sunday against Loyola), and second-stringer Brian Burke went down with a knee injury against Brother Rice. Hultquist had to be the workhorse.
”He`s going to get the ball a lot,” O`Neill said of Hultquist. ”He doesn`t get it much when we`re running our regular stuff. When you`ve got the best offensive line around, you ought to be able to do it.”
O`Neill was referring to center Mike Harazin (6-5, 228), guards Tim Grunhard (6-3, 255) and Jacob Galvan (5-10, 195) and tackles Jeff Pearson
(6-4, 240) and Rob Galloway (6-4, 245). They provided room for Hultquist and time for Miller (12 of 16 for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns).
St. Laurence went ahead 14-0 on Miller`s 5-yard scoring pass to Jim McGrath with 14 seconds left in the first quarter. The touchdown was set up by a Weber punt into the wind that also bounced backwards to the Red Horde`s 32, netting a minus-4 yards.
Weber (3-2, 0-1) made it 14-6 in the second quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ken Hoffman to Bill Stevens, who broke a few tackles on his way to the end zone.
St. Laurence broke the game open with three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Hultquist scored on a 4-yard run with 7 minutes 30 seconds left in the game, ending a 43-yard drive. ”It`s a confidence thing when you know you`re going to get the ball,” O`Neill said of Hultquist, who had seven carries during that drive.
St. Laurence`s Brendan Dowling intercepted Hoffman on the next play from scrimmage and returned it to Weber`s 19. Miller hit end Kurt Gregus with a 13- yard TD pass to make it 27-6 with 4:34 left. Tony Rubino scored on a 40- yard scamper with 2:11 to play.
”We needed a win,” O`Neill said. ”Weber is a good team. We didn`t expect anything like this. They`re a good defensive team.”
St. Laurence does have other expectations. ”We want to be the first
(Catholic League team) to win four straight conference championships,”
O`Neill said. ”We`ll see what happens after that.”
De La Salle 16, Mendel 0–James McCoy`s two fourth-quarter touchdowns, on runs of 4 and 1 yards, and Peter Vlahovic`s 27-yard field goal in the first period were all De La Salle (3-2, 1-0) needed in the Catholic League South Division. Mendel is 1-4, 0-1.
Gordon 21, St. Francis de Sales 0–Angelo Brown scored a pair of touchdowns for the Rams (4-1, 1-0) in this Catholic North Division game at Lane. George Cabrales scored the other Gordon touchdown on a 43-yard pass from Mike Barrett. De Sales is 2-3, 0-1.
