“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Whoever said that had Joliet Catholic in mind.

Lucas Simulick had 68 passing yards entering the final drive of the night for JCA on Friday at Marist. He finished with 128, including a 42-yarder to put the Hilltoppers at the Marist 18 with under a minute to go.

Craig Peacock had five yards rushing on seven attempts. He ripped off a 20-yarder to put JCA at the three and another two-yarder to place it at the one with 13 seconds left.

Declan Wagner hadn’t caught a pass all night until he came up with the biggest catch of his life as the clock hit zero.

An 18-yard field goal attempt with 1.1 seconds left by JCA resulted in a “fire” call after a low snap forced Simulick to pick up the ball and improvise. Wagner turned around and saw the ball coming his way. He hauled it in and dove for the end zone.

Touchdown. Game. Final score: Joliet Catholic 23, Marist 17. It was Joliet Catholic’s first win of the year after an 0-3 start.

Just how they drew it up, right?

“It’s a dream come true,” Simulick said. “0-3? First win of the year? (It’s) a good feeling. ...I can’t praise Declan enough.”

Wagner, for his part, seemed to be trying to praise Simulick, the coaching staff, and the rest of his teammates. The exhaustion, adrenaline and excitement seemed to be getting to him a bit, though.

“It’s just a lot,” Wagner said. “You’ve got to think about the ball and blocking, but then you look back and it’s just fire. So, you’ve got to get out to the flat to make the play. Yeah, man, we’re hyped. This is the most hyped I’ve ever seen us all. Yeah.”

The game didn’t seem like it would be quite as exciting as it wound up being early. Marist got the ball to start but an interception by Parker Mores gave the Hilltoppers the ball at midfield. Shortly after, Jayden Armstrong took the ball up the right sideline for a 29-yard touchdown run. It looked like win number one might come easy.

Facing a fourth-and-1 at the JCA 10 to start the second quarter, Marist quarterback Tommy Hosty burst up the middle for a 10-yard TD run to tie the game. A 32-yard field goal by Colin Czorcha with 2:12 left in the first half gave the RedHawks a 10-7 lead.

A 40-yard run by Anthony Finnegan helped JCA get in position to close the half with points, taking a 28-yard field goal by Vinny DiNovo at the buzzer to tie it up.

The second half started much like the game ended: with a bang. Peacock took the second half kickoff from his own five and ran it back 95 yards to the house to give the Hilltoppers a 17-10 edge.

Again, though, Marist made a massive play early the following quarter. Hosty struck Marty Donahue for a 33-yard TD less than a minute into the fourth to knot things up 17-17.

Then things got a little crazy.

JCA attempted to punt with 6:55 left, but a low snap resulted in the ball being downed at their own 29. Marist managed to move 10 yards, but Dylan Travis picked Hosty off and gave JCA a gasp. A 17-yard strike to Ian Campbell by Simulick was followed by the 42-yarder to Michael Brown. A pair of negative plays were followed by Peacock’s 20-yard run.

Peacock was stuffed at the one two plays later, so DiNovo went on for a chance to win it at the buzzer. Instead, it was Simulick and Wagner who connected to move JCA to 1-3 and keep Marist winless at 0-4.

“Luckily, Luke is a shortstop in baseball,” coach Jake Jaworski said with a chuckle. “Credit to Declan Wagner to have the awareness in that situation. ...It was an awesome play, awesome job, I’m just proud of this whole team in general.”