Although his team was out of the Chicago Catholic Blue title race, St. Rita running back Wade Weyer really wanted a win against host Brother Rice on Friday night.
Weyer put his actions where his thoughts were. The senior running back ran for 212 yards–167 after halftime–and scored three touchdowns as the No. 15 Mustangs overcame a 17-3 halftime deficit and earned a 24-17 overtime victory.
“This is a big South Side rivalry, and we just didn’t want them to go undefeated,” Weyer said. “We just stayed with our game plan, and I think we wore them down in the second half.”
The victory–St. Rita’s ninth straight over the Crusaders–denied No. 7 Brother Rice (8-1, 4-1) the outright league title and its first undefeated regular season.
Weyer scored on third-quarter runs of 18 and 61 yards to draw the Mustangs (7-2, 3-2) even. Brother Rice had a chance to win in the game’s waning moments, but Joe Duffy–who had earlier kicked a 37-yarder–missed a 41-yard field goal wide left with 42.8 seconds left.
In the overtime, St. Rita began on offense and Weyer needed only one play to find the end zone. After a 2-yard run on first down, Brother Rice threw three straight completions, setting off a wild celebration from the Mustangs.
Rice took a 17-0 lead after Duffy’s first-quarter field goal, John Lydon’s recovery of a fumble by Scott Linn (29 carries, 151 yards) in the end zone and a 27-yard interception return by Joe Gibson.
St. Rita broke the ice with 1:14 left in the first half on a 55-yard field goal by Ryan Donahue.
