The Montini defense needed a little while to dig in and find its footing against a high-scoring Peoria Notre Dame offense.

The Broncos offense, on the other hand, needed no such thing.

Seven of Montini’s first eight offensive possessions ended with touchdowns Saturday as last year’s Class 3A state champions advanced to this year’s Class 4A quarterfinals with a 47-17 handling of Peoria Notre Dame in Richwoods Stadium at Endres Field.

The top-seeded Broncos (11-0) will host No. 5-seeded Coal City (9-2) next weekend in the third round.

Senior running back Charles Flowers scored the first Montini touchdown Saturday with a 12-yard jet sweep around right end on the eighth play of the afternoon, part of a 50-yard, two-TD day for the senior running back and a 364-yard, seven-touchdown performance by the Broncos offense.

“We just have to make sure we do our assignments,” Flowers said of the offense’s role in Montini’s success. “We practice and prepare all week and make sure we’re perfect in everything we do. That’s kind of our thing during the season, to perfect everything in our assignments.

“Like Coach [Mike] Bu[kovsky] said, we set the tone to start the game.”

Peoria Notre Dame entered Saturday’s second-round playoff game averaging 42.3 points per contest with four performances in the 50s or 60s.

The Irish (8-3) got off to a pretty strong start against Montini too, putting together a nine-play, 53-yard drive that stalled and ended in a 30-yard Braden Pinskton field goal to answer Flowers’ opening touchdown and make it 7-3 midway through the opening quarter.

Then Montini scored again (Isaac Alexander 3-yard run) ... and again (Damacio Ortegon 30-yard pass from Israel Abrams) ... and, after passing up a field-goal attempt and turning it over on downs for their lone non-scoring drive of the first three quarters, again (Luca Florio 16-yard pass from Abrams) ... and again (Abrams 3-yard sneak) ... and again (Flowers in for a second time from 26 yards away) ... and again (Abrams 37 yards to Nico Castaldo) to lead 47-9 as the rain began to pick up heading into the fourth quarter.

The Broncos defense, meanwhile, clamped down after that opening drive, eventually allowing a couple pass-driven scoring drives after the game was well-decided but still limiting the run-first Irish to 196 yards from scrimmage and just 2.8 yards per carry.

“We didn’t do a great job on their first drive,” Bukovsky said. “We got a little too excited and didn’t follow our reads, so we had to make some adjustments with that. But from there, our guys did a super job. I thought we controlled their running game for most parts of the competitive game, and I was really happy with our defensive effort.

“And our offense just came right down and scored, scored again, kept the pressure on.”

Sophomore backup quarterback Zachary Pribaz (7-of-12 passing for 90 yards and touchdown) accounted for nearly half of Notre Dame’s yardage on the day, all of it coming after Montini had already put 40 points on the board.

As for the Broncos, the numbers didn’t wind up gaudy – they didn’t need to – but were exceedingly efficient. Abrams (11-of-17 passing for 193 yards and three TDs; 33 yards rushing with another touchdown), Flowers (60 yards from scrimmage, two TDs), Castaldo (four receptions for 69 yards and a TD), Alexander (65 yards, one TD rushing) and, late in the game, Julian Figueroa (42 yards rushing) led an attack that finished with 364 yards from scrimmage.

An impressive performance by the Broncos defense was led by the likes of defensive lineman Johnny Louise (pass batted down, fumble recovery), Laddie Asay (two tackles for loss), Santino Tenuta (also two TFLs) and Troy Stumbaugh (strip-sack and a separate fumble recovery). Ben Evenson also recovered a fumble, while Chris Juda recorded an interception.

The victory is the 21st straight for Montini, setting a new school record. It’s a record the Broncos will aim to add to in next weekend’s quarterfinals.

“It’s an exciting thing,” Flowers said. “People will look back in 10 years and look at this team. It’s history, and it’s a good thing.”