St. Bede responds in tough situations, beats Mendota

PERU — With a steady mist falling and trailing by a point to start the second half, the St. Bede football team faced several challenging situations.

On their first drive of the second half, the Bruins faced a third-and-long and later a botched snap ended up on the ground.

St. Bede later lost a fumble and on another drive faced a first-and-22 after a penalty.

Each time, the Bruins rose to the occasion.

St. Bede made several big plays at crucial times to pull away from Mendota for a 33-15 victory in a Three Rivers Conference East Division game Thursday.

“It’s just stuff we practice all the time,” St. Bede coach Jim Eustice said. “We called it and the kids executed. It’s that simple.

“We made a lot of mistakes in then second quarter and they had a halftime lead, so we challenged the kids. We believed in what we were doing. We told the kids we have to start making plays. Our offensive line did a heck of a job when we got in the rain. Luke (Story) was running well. John (Brady) threw a couple really nice balls. It was an overall, really nice team win.”

The Bruins (7-2) will find out their first round playoff opponent Saturday and have a chance at hosting a first round game for the first time since 2011.

“It’s absolutely huge,” Eustice said. “We’re going to be hosting the first round. That’s exciting for everybody. The whole St. Bede family is excited and has been excited for the whole calendar year. We’re 12-3 this calendar year. We’ve won a lot of close games. It’s just exciting.

“We’re having a playoff pairings party. There’s going to be a whole bunch of people there. Wherever we end up, we feel like we’re going to be able to compete with anybody.”

The Bruins showed their ability to compete Thursday.

On St. Bede’s first drive of the second half, Omar Gonzalez sacked Brady for a 5-yard loss on third-and-18, but a defensive holding penalty gave the Bruins new life.

On third-and-10, Brady connected with Anton Cain for a 40-yard gain.

On St. Bede’s next play, the snap was botched, but Story picked it up and weaved through the defense for a 42-yard touchdown that gave the Bruins a 20-15 lead.

“It was a low snap,” said Story, who was playing his second game of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery. “The ball was soaking wet. I picked it up and started running. I was just hoping to make something out of nothing.”

Early in the fourth quarter, the Bruins faced first-and-22 at their own 28 after a holding penalty.

But Brady hit Fortney for a 45-yard gain with a roughing the passer penalty tacked on to bring St. Bede to the Mendota 15.

On the next play, with Charles Heiting barreling down on him, Brady tossed a pass into the end zone to Fortney for a 15-yard TD and a 26-yard lead.

After the Bruins stopped Mendota on fourth down, Story took a handoff on St. Bede’s first play and raced for a 54-yard TD to extend the lead to 33-15.

“That wouldn’t have been possible without the offensive line,” said Story, who ran for 141 yards and a pair of TDs on 10 carries. “They held their blocks tremendously. I made a few guys miss then it was just a foot race.”

The Bruins made a few big plays to start the game as well.

On the second play of the game, Fortney took a short pass from Brady, got outside a Mendota defender and raced for a 58-yard score.

After the Bruins held the Trojans, Fortney fielded a Mendota punt, ran up the middle, burst through a hole and sprinted down the sideline for a 74-yard TD and a 14-0 lead.

However, the Trojans responded.

On the ensuing drive, Mendota marched 70 yards on 15 plays, capping the drive when quarterback Ted Landgraf faked a handoff to Anthony Childs, pulled the ball back and ran for a 7-yard TD with 11:13 left in the half. Gonzalez added the conversion run to cut Mendota’s deficit to 14-8.

The Trojans took over at the St. Bede 43 with 1:26 left in the half and Uzi Angulo scored on a 17-yard run with 17 seconds left to give the Trojans a 15-14 lead.

“We just had to exhale and let it go,” Mendota coach Keegan Hill said about the Trojans responding down 14-0. “The offensive line got after them and ground the ball down the field. We finished with a really physical drive. We executed before the half to get a wheel route to our running back out of the backfield and then we punched it in. It was just being able to move on and let that stuff go. We tell the kids we can’t dwell on it.

“We played really hard. In some critical moments, we had the ball go the other way whether that was a melee on a snap or some flukey stuff.”

Mendota (5-4) should earn its first playoff berth since 2014.

“We’re looking forward to playing another game with this group,” Hill said. “It’s going to be fun. We’re going to be prepared regardless of opponent.”