The Knights, clad in their navy-and-white jerseys and lettermen’s jackets, lined Driscoll’s path onto the field to cheer on their Suburban Catholic Conference rival before its 4A title game.
“The season’s over and we’re all friends now,” said Immaculate Conception’s star quarterback, Anthony Schreiber. “We’re both just out here to win a state title.”
And that they did.
The Knights made a fourth-quarter comeback to edge DuQuoin 21-14 for the school’s first state title.
Immaculate Conception (13-1) joined Driscoll, which walloped Mt. Carmel (Ill.) 42-0, in bringing a state championship to the Suburban Catholic.
With IC trailing 14-13 midway through the fourth quarter, defensive lineman David Suarez set up the game-winning score by recovering a fumble on DuQuoin’s 45-yard line.
“I just saw it and fell on it,” the 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pounder said. “I wanted to pick it up and take it to [the end zone], but I knew our offense needed the ball.”
Ten plays later, Joe Mastrino punched it in from the 1-yard line. Schreiber faked a point-after kick and scampered around the left end for a two-point conversion.
Schreiber scored on a 1-yard plunge in with 3 minutes 47 seconds left in the third to bring the Knights within 14-13, but Schreiber’s extra-point attempt fell short, hitting the crossbar and bouncing back.
“I was so disappointed when it didn’t go through,” said Schreiber, who accounted for a team-leading 174 yards of offense. “I just didn’t get it enough. One inch higher and it was good.”
Senior tailback-cornerback Gabe Murphy sealed the win by knocking down a likely DuQuoin touchdown pass with 4:21 left.
“I had to knock it down,” Murphy said. “I saw it coming over my head and knew it just couldn’t happen any other way.”
Murphy then picked up a crucial first down on a third-and-9 with less than a minute to go.
DuQuoin (12-2) scored twice in a four-minute span in the first quarter. Terrence Spiller’s fourth-down, 4-yard touchdown catch from Nick Hill capped the opening drive. Reid Bastien’s 35-yard run put DuQuoin up 14-0 with 3:23 left in the period.
Kevin Mulligan cut the IC deficit to 14-7 before the half.
I. Conception 21, DuQuoin 14
DuQuoin 14 0 0 0 - 14
I. Conception 0 7 6 8 - 21
SCORING:
1st 07:26 DUQUOIN – Spiller, T. 4 yd pass from Hill, Nick (Beard, Derek kick), 9 plays, 79 yards, TOP 4:34, DUQUOIN 7 – IC 0
03:23 DUQUOIN – Bastien, Reid 35 yd run (Beard, Derek kick), 5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 2:28, DUQUOIN 14 – IC 0
2nd 08:52 IC – Mulligan, Kevin 3 yd run (Schreiber, A. kick), 13 plays, 61 yards, TOP 6:31, DUQUOIN 14 – IC 7
3rd 00:30 IC – Schreiber, A. 1 yd run (Schreiber, A. kick failed), 8 plays, 51 yards, TOP 3:47, DUQUOIN 14 – IC 13
4th 05:43 IC – Mastrino, Joe 1 yd run (Schreiber, A. rush), 11 plays, 44 yards, TOP 4:21, DUQUOIN 14 – IC 21
STATISTICS
DUQUOIN IC
FIRST DOWNS 9 15
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 31-147 53-196
PASSING YDS (NET) 70 99
Passes Att-Comp-Int 14-4-0 15-7-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 45-217 68-295
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 3-66 3-17
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg) 5-29.4 4-26.5
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0
Penalties-Yards 1-15 6-45
Possession Time 18:44 29:16
Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 0-0
RUSHING: DeQuoin-Tilley, Robbie 11-49; Bastien, Reid 2-39; Beard, Derek 8-24; Endres, Cole 5-15; Hill, Nick 4-15; Krone, Tyler 1-5. I.
Conception-Schreiber, A. 18-75; Campbell, Jack 17-67; Mastrino, Joe 11-31; Murphy, Gabe 6-20; Mulligan, Kevin 1-3.
PASSING: DeQuoin-Hill, Nick 4-14-0-70. I. Conception-Schreiber, A. 7-15-0-99.
RECEIVING: DeQuoin-Spiller, T. 2-38; Beard, Derek 1-23; Endres, Cole 1-9. I. Conception-Murphy, Gabe 4-44; Hauert, Dan 1-31; Zerante, Larry 1-17; Campbell, Jack 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS: DeQuoin-None. I. Conception-None.
SACKS (UA-A): DeQuoin-None. I. Conception-None.
TACKLES (UA-A): DeQuoin-Endres, Cole 6-6; Beckham, Matt 7-3; Wilson, Chad 4-5; Porter, Chase 3-5; Marks, Nathan 5-0; Beard, Derek 3-2; Campanella, J. 2-2; Spiller, T. 3-0; Bastien, Reid 1-2; Darnell, John 2-0; Ellemeyer, Cody 1-1; Clark, Cory 1-0; Scaglione, Luke 0-1; Jackson, Justin 0-1. I. Conception-Kowieski, Brian 3-6; Grobe, Pat 5-1; Mulligan, Kevin 3-2 Jazwiec, Matt 3-0; Murphy, Gabe 2-1; Gibbons, P. 1-2; Krefft, Bill 1-2; Suarez, David 0-3; Naborowski, N. 2-0; Recio, Marc 2-0; Mastrino, Joe 0-2; Bianchi, Bill 1-0; Zerante, Ryan 0-1.
Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 13324 Kickoff time: 7:24 PM End of Game: 9:44 PM Total elapsed time: 2:20 Officials: Referee: Gerry Henson; Umpire: William Evans; Linesman: Thomas Fay; Line judge: Ralph Burnell; Back judge: Peter Schiavone; Scorer: John Fredrick; Temperature: 50 Wind: W @ 16 Weather: Cloudy
