St. Rita defense comes up with key stops to beat Brother Rice 17-12

CHICAGO — St. Rita’s defense wanted to redeem itself after allowing 35 points to Mount Carmel to start the season.

The Mustangs knew they made mental mistakes and focused on the mental side in preparation for their matchup against Brother Rice on Friday.

The defense showed its improvement by stopping two fourth-down conversions in the fourth quarter to secure St. Rita a 17-12 win.

“I feel like we made a huge upgrade this week,” defensive lineman Pat Farrell said. “We just looked like a whole different team.”

Brother Rice had a chance to get into scoring position twice late in the fourth quarter down 17-12. The Crusaders drove to the Mustangs 26-yard line with 4:15 left in the game but Brother Rice couldn’t pick up a yard to gain a first down.

The Crusaders had one final chance needing to get three yards on the Mustangs 42 but couldn’t pick up the first down, missing on three straight passes to end the game.

“I just felt like we held together and kept pushing to get the win,” Farrell said.

St. Rita’s defense didn’t get off to the the start it wanted when Brother Rice went down the field and scored on its opening drive. Marcus Brown completed a 23-yard pass to Marty O’Keefe to make it 6-0 with 9:41 left in the first quarter after a missed extra point.

The Mustangs (1-1) offense struggled to pick up momentum after only scoring three points against the Caravan. St. Rita broke through midway through the second quarter – after a Johnny Schmitt interception – when Ethan Middleton ran seven yards to give his team a 7-6 lead with 5:52 left in the second quarter.

Middleton showed off his talents as both a rusher and pass catcher when he caught a quick pass from Jett Hilding and rushed 27 yards to score to make it 14-6 St. Rita with 7:54 left in the third quarter. St. Rita drove to the Brother Rice 3 yard line midway through the fourth quarter but settled for the field goal to make it 17-12 with 7:57 left in the game.

Middleton finished the game with 56 rushing yards and 51 receiving yards while Hilding threw for 111 yards, completing six of his 17 attempts. DJ Stewart added 64 rushing yards.

“We were able to take advantage of some of the mistakes that they made,” St. Rita coach Todd Kuska said. “That’s a good football team there too. We just grew up a little bit.”

Brother Rice (1-1) scored on a fourth-and-1 from the St. Rita 1 when Ryan Hartz found Owen Gorman to make it a 14-12 Mustangs lead with 21 seconds left in the third quarter. Hartz attempted to pick up the two-point conversion but the St. Rita defense stopped his attempt. The quarterback finished with 203 passing yards.

The Crusaders are still learning with a young team under new coach Casey Quedenfeld. Despite winning 46-0 against Hillcrest to start the season, there are still improvements new players need to make.

“It was a hard fought battle and it comes down to who made more mistakes,” Quedenfeld said. “We made more mistakes.”

Brother Rice will travel to Benet on Friday, Sept. 9, while St. Rita will play host to Loyola.

The Mustangs will have their third straight matchup against a CCL/ESCC Blue opponent when they face the Ramblers and another test against one of the state’s best teams.

“They’re a great football team,” Kuska said. “They’re well-coached, they know what to do, they have a lot of great players. We need to do what we can do and can’t beat ourselves.”