Marian Central’s Cale McThenia, Christian Bentancur connect for 5 TDs

MELROSE PARK – After Marian Central’s Kaleb Eckman picked up a Christ the King fumble on the first play from scrimmage, the next play was almost predictable.

Hurricanes quarterback Cale McThenia fired a 31-yard scoring pass to Christian Bentancur.

It was the first of five collaborative touchdowns for the duo as Marian rolled to a 55-0 victory Friday in their Chicagoland Christian Conference game at Ralph “Babe” Serpico Field.

Marian (3-2, 3-0) is above .500 for the first time after an 0-2 start.

“Definitely feel better,” Hurricanes coach Liam Kirwan said. “Good to feel that we’re in control of our destiny. It’s a deep league when you look at it especially toward the top of it and I’m excited that we’re in the thick of it.”

McThenia finished with 13-of-23 passing for 195 yards and six touchdowns. Bentancur caught 11 passes for 146 yards and his five touchdowns were one off the IHSA record for a game.

McThenia’s sixth touchdown pass went to running back Brady Quinn for 11 yards which produced a 40-0 lead and a running clock only 40 seconds into the third quarter.

Bentancur has 15 touchdown catches in five games and the 11 receptions pushed his career total to 181. Only 10 players in state history have reached 200 catches for their careers.

“It was a great team win, a great team effort tonight,” McThenia said. “(Our) offense just stayed hot. We focused all week (in practice) on having a complete game tonight.”